Why eating more protein in junk food might help you eat less
Short-term effects of high-protein, lower-carbohydrate ultra-processed foods on human energy balance
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Even if the food is ultra-processed (like packaged snacks), eating more protein and less carbs makes your body burn more calories and feel fuller faster.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
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Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Even if the food is ultra-processed (like packaged snacks), eating more protein and less carbs makes your body burn more calories and feel fuller faster.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 564 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Hägele FA, Herpich C, Koop J, Grübbel J, Dörner R, Fedde S, Götze O, Boirie Y, Müller MJ, Norman K, Bosy-Westphal A
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Claims (4)
Eating ultra-processed foods with more protein and fewer carbs makes your body burn about 130 extra calories per day just to digest and process the food, even if you’re not moving more.
When healthy young people eat ultra-processed foods that are high in protein and low in carbs, they naturally eat about 200 fewer calories per day than when they eat ultra-processed foods with normal protein and carbs—even if both meals taste the same.
Even though people still ate more calories than they burned, eating high-protein, low-carb ultra-processed foods made them much less likely to store excess energy as fat compared to normal-protein ultra-processed foods.
When people eat high-protein, low-carb ultra-processed foods, their bodies release more hormones that tell them they’re full (PYY and glucagon) and less of the hunger hormone (ghrelin), which may explain why they eat less.