Effect of Ultra Processed Versus Unprocessed Diets on Energy Intake
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03407053. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Background: Eating too much processed food is believed to lead to obesity. But the effect of processed food on energy intake has not been carefully studied. Researchers want to study people s diets for 4 weeks and do specialized tests of the effects. Participants will get two diets. They will have the same calories and nutrients, but one diet will be unprocessed food and the other will be ultra-processed. Objective: To better understand how processed and unprocessed foods affect daily food consumption and how the body handles blood sugar. Eligibility: Healthy adults ages 18-50 who have stable weight and can exercise Design: Participants will not eat for 12 hours. Then they will be screened with: * Medical history * Physical exam * Heart and blood tests * Resting energy expenditure test (REE). A hood will collect air exhaled while lying down for 30-40 minutes. * Psychiatric questions * Questions about mood, eating, sleep, and socioeconomic status * 20-minute stationary biking Female participants will have a urine pregnancy test. Participants will stay in the clinic for 4 weeks. For 2 weeks they will get a processed diet. For the other 2 weeks they will get an unprocessed diet. Participants cannot use the study period to gain or lose weight. Participants will have: * Meals and snacks provided * Daily exercise * Blood, urine, and saliva tests * To drink a special water and a very sweet liquid * REE * Scans and X-rays * To wear activity monitors and a device to measure blood sugar * Several 24-hour periods in a room that measures oxygen and carbon dioxide * Repeats of screening questions * Questions about hunger and meals * Sleep monitoring * Taste tests
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03407053
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 20 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- Ultra-processed diet Dietary Supplement
- Unprocessed diet Dietary Supplement
Dietary Supplement
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 50 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Feb 28, 2018
- Primary completion
- Feb 25, 2020
- Completion
- Feb 25, 2020
- Last update posted
- Jun 28, 2021
2018 – 2020
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health Clinical Center | Bethesda | Maryland | 20892 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03407053, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Jun 28, 2021 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
Related: full search, browse by condition, browse by drug or therapy, browse by sponsor, browse by U.S. city.
Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03407053 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.