Dr. Chris van Tulleken

This is not published. This is in process. So I can't, we, I... Now, where are we? One of my students is leading it, and I think I can't talk about any of the data, but it will be the largest randomized controlled trial of UPF ever done so far in the world in free living individuals, and I think at all, because it will be the third published randomized controlled trial of UPF.

um because on top of the one you referenced earlier there was a study that replicated kevin hall's work in japan and now we will be the the third but it's a slightly different trial design so i was the first participant to go what changes in chris what can we measure how should we kind of design the rest of the experiment and i'll be honest kind of like kevin hall um who's the the

um because on top of the one you referenced earlier there was a study that replicated kevin hall's work in japan and now we will be the the third but it's a slightly different trial design so i was the first participant to go what changes in chris what can we measure how should we kind of design the rest of the experiment and i'll be honest kind of like kevin hall um who's the the

um because on top of the one you referenced earlier there was a study that replicated kevin hall's work in japan and now we will be the the third but it's a slightly different trial design so i was the first participant to go what changes in chris what can we measure how should we kind of design the rest of the experiment and i'll be honest kind of like kevin hall um who's the the

by my now very well-known investigator at the NIH who did the first randomized control trial, I was maybe not skeptical, but it seemed to me that eating what is a normal diet for four weeks would not have any big effects on my health. You know, this is, I ate 80% of my calories from ultra-processed food for four weeks. This is a diet very typical for an American teenager. This is not a weird diet.

by my now very well-known investigator at the NIH who did the first randomized control trial, I was maybe not skeptical, but it seemed to me that eating what is a normal diet for four weeks would not have any big effects on my health. You know, this is, I ate 80% of my calories from ultra-processed food for four weeks. This is a diet very typical for an American teenager. This is not a weird diet.

by my now very well-known investigator at the NIH who did the first randomized control trial, I was maybe not skeptical, but it seemed to me that eating what is a normal diet for four weeks would not have any big effects on my health. You know, this is, I ate 80% of my calories from ultra-processed food for four weeks. This is a diet very typical for an American teenager. This is not a weird diet.

Right. So there were kind of three big things that happened. I gained weight, a huge amount of weight, six and a half kilos, more than six and a half kilos in four weeks. That's like 15 pounds, right? In American pounds, yeah. I would have doubled my body weight in a year if I'd kept doing it. And you referenced supersize me. I was not force feeding myself.

Right. So there were kind of three big things that happened. I gained weight, a huge amount of weight, six and a half kilos, more than six and a half kilos in four weeks. That's like 15 pounds, right? In American pounds, yeah. I would have doubled my body weight in a year if I'd kept doing it. And you referenced supersize me. I was not force feeding myself.

Right. So there were kind of three big things that happened. I gained weight, a huge amount of weight, six and a half kilos, more than six and a half kilos in four weeks. That's like 15 pounds, right? In American pounds, yeah. I would have doubled my body weight in a year if I'd kept doing it. And you referenced supersize me. I was not force feeding myself.

So I was just eating to appetite as long as 80% of my calories came from UPF. So I was, the experience of doing it was incredibly educational. I was never full. I was never hungry. I was just sort of eating all day because that's what the food allows you to do. So weight gain is very well evidenced.

So I was just eating to appetite as long as 80% of my calories came from UPF. So I was, the experience of doing it was incredibly educational. I was never full. I was never hungry. I was just sort of eating all day because that's what the food allows you to do. So weight gain is very well evidenced.

So I was just eating to appetite as long as 80% of my calories came from UPF. So I was, the experience of doing it was incredibly educational. I was never full. I was never hungry. I was just sort of eating all day because that's what the food allows you to do. So weight gain is very well evidenced.

We then did brain, we did functional MRI scans and looked at connectivity between different parts of the brain. This was sort of The most terrifying bit is we saw a massive increase in connection between the automatic behavior bits at the back of the brain in the cerebellum, the habit forming bits, and the reward addiction bits in the middle of the brain.

We then did brain, we did functional MRI scans and looked at connectivity between different parts of the brain. This was sort of The most terrifying bit is we saw a massive increase in connection between the automatic behavior bits at the back of the brain in the cerebellum, the habit forming bits, and the reward addiction bits in the middle of the brain.

We then did brain, we did functional MRI scans and looked at connectivity between different parts of the brain. This was sort of The most terrifying bit is we saw a massive increase in connection between the automatic behavior bits at the back of the brain in the cerebellum, the habit forming bits, and the reward addiction bits in the middle of the brain.

And these changes were very surprising to all of us. They were very robust and they persisted for eight weeks after. And what were the changes in your brain? So we just saw huge amounts of increased connectivity between the habit bits and the reward bits. and the findings are best described as if I had developed a new addiction.

And these changes were very surprising to all of us. They were very robust and they persisted for eight weeks after. And what were the changes in your brain? So we just saw huge amounts of increased connectivity between the habit bits and the reward bits. and the findings are best described as if I had developed a new addiction.

And these changes were very surprising to all of us. They were very robust and they persisted for eight weeks after. And what were the changes in your brain? So we just saw huge amounts of increased connectivity between the habit bits and the reward bits. and the findings are best described as if I had developed a new addiction.

All of the fMRI data that you generate from any experiment is hard to be really sure of what's causing what, but we saw very significant changes and it's notable they were between those two regions. And bear in mind, I was 43 when I was – it was a few years ago. I was in my mid-40s doing it.