The New York Times [unpaywalled] – “This Study is Trying to Find Out….Ultraprocessed foods encompass a large range of foods and drinks that are made using methods and ingredients you wouldn’t typically use or find in a home kitchen. Sodas, processed meats and flavored yogurts are part of this category, as are most breakfast cereals, packaged breads and plant milks. Ultraprocessed foods are a major source of calories in the United States — making up about 58 percent of those consumed by children and adults, according to one recent estimate. Kevin Hall, a senior investigator at the N.I.H. who is leading the trial, said that there is a “mountain of epidemiological data” linking ultraprocessed foods to poor health — including 32 health concerns like heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression and certain gastrointestinal conditions and types of cancer. But many questions remain, including whether it is the ultraprocessed foods themselves that cause those conditions, or whether it is something about the lives of the people who eat them. Scientists also still don’t know why ultraprocessed foods might cause poor health.There’s a “gaping hole in our knowledge,” Dr. Hall said — one he hopes to begin to fill with this research. The ‘Most Important Study Done in Nutrition in Years’ – In 2019, Dr. Hall and his colleagues published the results of a trial that has been hailed as one of the most influential studies in nutrition…”