Your body burns more calories digesting real food like whole grains and cheese than fake food like white bread and processed cheese, even if both have the same calories.
Scientific Claim
Consuming whole foods increases postprandial energy expenditure compared to isoenergetic ultraprocessed foods due to higher digestive effort and reduced thermodynamic efficiency.
Original Statement
“This study took people in an inpatient setting and it had them consume ultraprocessed foods or it had them consume whole foods. Okay. What they found with this is that the people that were consuming whole foods for 5 6 hours afterwards, they measured their fat oxidation. They measured their energy expenditure. They had a thermic effect of that food of about 137 calories over the course of 5 hours. So they consume this food, whole food, 137 calories burned. Same amount of calories, same amount of macronutrients, but in processed food, 73 calories over 5 hours. They literally doing nothing. Doing nothing burned 50% less calories.”
Context Details
Domain
nutrition
Population
human
Subject
Whole foods
Action
increases
Target
postprandial energy expenditure
Intervention Details
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (2)
Postprandial energy expenditure in whole-food and processed-food meals: implications for daily energy expenditure
The study found that your body burns more calories digesting a sandwich made with real bread and cheese than one made with white bread and processed cheese, even if both sandwiches have the same calories. This supports the idea that whole foods make your body work harder to digest them.
Postprandial energy expenditure in whole-food and processed-food meals: implications for daily energy expenditure
This study found that eating a sandwich made with real bread and cheese burns almost twice as many calories during digestion as one made with white bread and processed cheese—even though both sandwiches had the same calories. This supports the idea that whole foods make your body work harder to digest them.
Contradicting (1)
Whole-grain pasta reduces appetite and meal-induced thermogenesis acutely: a pilot study.
The study found that eating whole-grain pasta actually burned fewer calories after eating than some other pasta meals, which is the opposite of what the claim says. So it contradicts the idea that whole foods make your body work harder to digest.