Isocaloric replacement of ultraprocessed foods was associated with greater weight loss in the POUNDS Lost trial.

Objective: Higher intake of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) is associated with obesity. We examined whether replacing UPFs (NOVA 4) with minimally processed foods and culinary ingredients (NOVA 1 + 2) was associated with differential weight change in this secondary prospective analysis of the Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies (POUNDS) Lost trial.

Methods: We estimated percent energy intake (%kcal) from the four NOVA groups using 24-h dietary recalls in a subset of 356 participants.