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Children who eat more ultraprocessed foods show stronger brain responses to appetizing foods (opens in a new tab)
medicalxpress.com · 2026-10-23
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Children who eat more ultraprocessed foods show stronger brain responses to appetizing foods
medicalxpress.com · 2026-10-23
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No source study could be identified.
The available search results did not establish a source study for this article. Its claims remain unverified; this does not mean they are incorrect.
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The available search results did not establish a source study for this article. Its claims remain unverified; this does not mean they are incorrect.
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10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.40252
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Claim 1 of 5Not checkedChildren who eat more ultraprocessed foods show stronger responses in the brain's reward network when viewing images of appetizing foods.View evidenceHide evidence
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No source study was confirmed for this article. This claim remains unverified, rather than assessed as supported or unsupported.
Claim 2 of 5Not checkedThese brain responses are linked to increases in body fat one year later.View evidenceHide evidence
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Claim 3 of 5Not checkedThe study included 46 children ages 7 to 10 from the BrainChild study, all of whom started at a healthy weight, and used MRI scans, dietary information, and body composition measures collected at baseline and again one year later.View evidenceHide evidence
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Claim 4 of 5Not checkedChildren who consumed more UPFs had stronger dorsal striatum responses to food images, and stronger dorsal striatum responses were associated with increased BMI and body fat percentage one year later.View evidenceHide evidence
As stated31% and 44% weakening of associations after accounting for dorsal striatum responses
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No source study was confirmed for this article. This claim remains unverified, rather than assessed as supported or unsupported.
Claim 5 of 5Not checkedThe article says the study was observational and could not establish whether UPF consumption causes changes in brain activity or weight gain.View evidenceHide evidence
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Search results
Candidate papers, not confirmed sources.
PubMed, Europe PMC, Crossref · 15 candidate papers
Metabolic and neural responses to ultraprocessed foods: a randomized, controlled, crossover study.
Nature Metabolism · 2026 · PubMed, Europe PMC
SNAP and ultraprocessed food
Nature Food · 2022 · Crossref
Ultraprocessed food and cardiometabolic disease
Nature Food · 2021 · Crossref
Case management of ultra-processed food addiction: a theoretical perspective.
2026 · Europe PMC
An fMRI study on the effect of cue reactivity on striatal reward anticipation in alcohol dependent patients
2017 · Crossref