# The Scientists Who Built the Modern Snack

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/the-scientists-who-built-the-modern-snack
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/the-scientists-who-built-the-modern-snack.md
Podcast: [Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256)
Published: 2026-06-11T07:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://forku.com/episode/the-scientists-who-built-the-modern-snack
Audio file: https://op3.dev/e/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/bcdafb10-2474-43a7-b09c-b111a4c1a291.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/episodes/the-scientists-who-built-the-modern-snack
Duration seconds: 820

## Resource

How We Eat Most of us think we know what we eat. However, nutrition researchers have learned a frustrating lesson over the years: asking people what they ate yesterday is often less accurate than anyone would like. Although food diaries and surveys can provide useful information, memories are imperfect, snacks are easily forgotten, and portion sizes tend to grow smaller in retrospect. Consequently, some of the most important nutrition research takes place in a setting that is both expensive and surprisingly simple—a metabolic ward, where every meal is prepared, every serving is weighed, and every leftover bite is measured. That approach is exactly what researcher Kevin Hall and his colleagues used in a landmark study at the NIH. Participants were given two different diets, one based largely on ultra-processed foods and another built around minimally processed foods. Importantly, the volunteers could eat as much as they wanted. Nobody instructed them to count calories, restrict portions, or lose weight. Nevertheless, participants consumed about 500 more calories per day when eating the ultra-processed diet. The same people, living in the same environment, produced dramatically different results simply because the food changed. Obesity in the US and Ultra-Processed Foods As a result, the study raised an intriguing question. If ultra-processed foods can influence calorie intake to that degree, why isn't everyone obese? After all, ultra-processed foods make up a large portion of the modern food supply. Grocery stores are filled with them, convenience stores specialize in them, and many restaurants depend on them. Yet despite widespread exposure to the same food environment, some people seem relatively unaffected while others struggle with appetite, cravings, and weight gai…

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## Transcript

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