Effects of Ultra Processed Food on Intestinal Energy Harvest

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Obesity and Overweight

In brief

Ultra processed food is everywhere in modern society and may contain multiple ingredients that affect the way participants' bodies store energy. Some studies have shown that eating a diet high in ultra processed foods leads to weight gain, but these foods have not been studied enough to understand why. Recently, the gut microbiome has become a potential way to measure energy balance in the human body; this is done by measuring how many calories are in the stool. The investigators propose to test a very high ultra-processed food diet where 80% of calories are coming from ultra processed food and a low ultra processed food diet where 20% of the calories are coming from ultra processed food. This study will compare stool sample energy content of the two diets.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT06853288

Run by

Columbia University

People needed

20

Starts

2025-03-30

Expected to finish

2026-12-01

Last updated by the study team

2025-10-03

Who can join

Age: 25 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• BMI 30-40kg/m2
• weight stable
• able to download app and willing to use it for duration of study
• does own grocery shopping
• otherwise healthy

You may not qualify if…

• pregnancy
• history of or planned bariatric surgery
• history of anti obesity medications

Where it is running

• Columbia University Irving Medical Center — New York, New York, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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