Episode
Episode 273: Dr. Jacob May | 🧠 How Ultra-Processed Foods Destroy Your Kids' Metabolism
- Podcast
- Food Junkies Podcast
- Published
- Mar 19, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3206
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/food-junkies-podcast-3077617/episodes/episode-273-dr-jacob-may-how-ultra-processed-foods-destroy-your-kids-metabolism/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/food-junkies-podcast-3077617/episode-273-dr-jacob-may-how-ultra-processed-foods-destroy-your-kids-metabolism.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
What's really happening inside your child's body when they eat ultra-processed food? In this episode, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with Dr. Jacob May — mitochondrial researcher, registered dietitian, and Associate Professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center — to explore the cellular and metabolic consequences of a diet dominated by ultra-processed foods, particularly in children. Dr. May leads the Mitochondrial Energetics and Nutrient Utilization Laboratory, where his team investigates how dietary patterns shape metabolism at the cellular level. He's a keynote speaker, precision nutrition researcher, and practicing clinician — and his insights here are both science-forward and refreshingly practical. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why mitochondria can't tell the difference between a McDonald's burger and organic beef — and why that still matters What phytonutrients and zoonutrients are, and why ultra-processing strips them out How ultra-processed foods drive insulin resistance through a damaging feedback loop Whether children are more resilient or more vulnerable to the effects of UPFs — and why the answer is complicated What the research actually says about saturated fat, ketogenic diets, and insulin sensitivity How the gut microbiome is affected by ultra-processed food intake Why breath biomarkers may be the future of non-invasive metabolic screening What GLP-1 medications mean for the future of nutrition science — and why dietitians aren't obsolete Practical, real-world advice for feeding children in an ultra-processed food environment About Dr. Jacob May: Dr. Jacob May is an Associate Professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and head of the Mitochondrial Energetics and Nutrient Utilization Laboratory. His research focuses on how dietary patterns — inc…