Young adults may be especially prone to overeating ultra-processed foods, study finds

Young adults aged 18-21 consumed nearly 100 extra calories and were more likely to overeat after two weeks on an ultra-processed food diet in a Virginia Tech study.

Deirdre Bardolf is a lifestyle writer with Fox News Digital.

Researchers enrolled 27 adults ages 18 to 25 in a crossover study comparing two diets — one with 81% of calories from UPFs and one without any. Each diet lasted two weeks, with meals prepared in a lab and matched for calories and nutrients. After each phase, participants ate freely from a large buffet breakfast, which offered about 1,800 calories, and then took part in a snack test to measure whether they would keep eating even when not hungry.