{"doi":"10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.101183","title":"Consuming an unprocessed diet reduces energy intake: a post-hoc analysis of a randomized controlled trial reveals a role for human nutritional intelligence","abstract":"In 2019 Hall et al. reported a randomized clinical trial showing an ultra-processed diet increases energy intake by ∼500 kcal/d compared to an unprocessed diet. This post-hoc analysis assessed whether participants selected meal components with specific nutritional characteristics and how this affected energy intake. Twenty weight-stable adults received an ad libitum ultra-processed or unprocessed diet for 2 weeks, followed by the alternate diet. ANOVA and t -tests assessed diet effects; a linear mixed model assessed predictors of meal size. With the unprocessed diet, participants selected components with a less-equal blend of energy from carbohydrate and fat (“blend index” difference; lunch = 0.22 (95% CI: 0.19, 0.26), P < 0.0001, d = 0.76; dinner = 0.24 (95% CI: 0.19, 0.28), P < 0.0001, d = 0.71). These components formed meals that had a lower blend index (less balanced) than ultra-processed meals (lunch, F (1, 19) = 18.49, P < 0.0004, partial η 2 = 0.493; dinner, F (1, 19) = 24.85, P < 0.0001, partial η 2 = 0.57). With the unprocessed diet, participants preferentially chose low-energy-dense components (<1.0 kcal/g, mostly fruits and vegetables), creating meals lower in energy (unprocessed = 719.4 ± 11.6 kcal vs ultra-processed = 829.5 ± 12.51 kcal), ( F (1,19) = 14.9, P < 0.001, η 2 G = 0.0457), yet significantly larger (57%) by mass (unprocessed = 665.5 ± 10.74 g vs ultra-processed = 423.5 ± 8.03 g), ( F (1,19) = 82.9, P < 0.001, η 2 G = 0.274). Modelled together, low-energy-dense mass and blend index strongly predict observed energy intakes (r = 0.78, df = 1676, P < 0.001). Unprocessed meals may reduce energy intake because: (1) they have a less balanced carbohydrate-fat blend; and (2) they promote a form of nutritional intelligence whereby a compromise is struck between consuming calories and consuming micronutrients, which we refer to as “micronutrient deleveraging.” The original study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03407053, 2018-01-20).","journal":"American Journal of Clinical Nutrition","year":2025,"id":587422,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9556,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"ClinicalTrials.gov":["NCT03407053"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1503205,"name":"Mark Schatzker","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":893934,"name":"Peter J. Rogers","orcid":"0000-0003-3525-3473","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270255,"name":"Amber B. Courville","orcid":"0000-0002-1419-3937","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":251344,"name":"Kevin D. Hall","orcid":"0000-0003-4062-3133","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":893933,"name":"Annika N. Flynn","orcid":"0000-0002-8032-4448","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":796379,"name":"Jeffrey M. Brunstrom","orcid":"0000-0003-4657-7799","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":29,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:59:36.020030Z","pmid":"41475551","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}