Login | September 10, 2025
Why the weight gain even with physical activity?
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: September 8, 2025
Have you been trying to increase your activity level in order to shed a few pounds but you still can’t seem to lose any weight?
Well, you just might be one of a rather significant group of people who are experiencing the same phenomenon - a worldwide phenomena actually.
And this past July enter a brand new study out of Duke University that could possibly have an answer to this pound-shedding dilemma.
But let me caution you that their answer is one that some folks probably don’t want to hear.
The study I’m referring to, “Energy expenditure and obesity across the economic spectrum,” was conducted in Duke’s Potnzer Lab, which is a component of their Department of Evolutionary Anthropology.
And what the researchers looked at were the correlations between economic development, daily energy expenditure and the rise in a country's obesity rate.
Now after examining all their data, the findings with which they were presented pointed to a rather interesting conclusion: A conclusion that appears to buck the traditional theories concerning our global obesity epidemic.
But before I let the cat out of the bag and unveil that conclusion let’s first look at how this study was run.
The Duke team examined the energy expenditure, body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI) of 4,213 adults from 34 various ethnic populations across six continents.
What’s more, they examined lifestyles and economies, everything from primitive hunter-gatherers to farming lifestyles/economies to highly industrialized lifestyle/economies.
So one of the study’s initial findings was that individuals from economically-developed countries burned more calories/day than individuals from less developed countries - 6% more actually - which was rather puzzling.
Another puzzling finding which seemed to buck popular belief was that individuals from economically developed countries actually had nearly the same activity levels as individuals from less developed, rural countries.
Both of these findings seem to contradict the widely held thesis that physical activity is a key factor for determining the level of obesity amongst populations from varying socio-economic situations.
So if individuals from economically-developed countries burn more calories and are just as active as individuals from less developed countries then what is it then that makes individuals from economically-developed countries more prone to obesity?
Well, this is where things get interesting - and maybe even a little controversial - because the Duke team believes the answer has everything to do with UPF - ultra processed foods.
Indeed, for what the study revealed was that there was one trend in the data that seemingly screamed out at the researchers like an air-raid siren - the fact that the UPF were far more prevalent in economically-developed countries than in less developed countries.
And as we already know, a diet rich in the consumption of UPF can lead to increases in adipose tissue (fat).
But how is it that UPF contribute to increases in fat storage?
Well, the Duke team explained it this way.
Because UPF are easier to digest, our bodies can extract more calories from them.
Thus, our guts expend less energy in the digestion process - which means that more energy (calories) can get stored as adipose tissue.
But it doesn’t end there.
Prior research into the consumption of UPF has established that these UPF can also disrupt the body’s hunger signals, thereby prompting individuals to overeat.
Thus, despite the fact that individuals from wealthier countries are burning more calories and are just as physically active as individuals from poorer countries, they’re still eating more food especially foods like UPF that seem to encourage the storage of calories in adipose tissue.
According to the Duke researchers, the moral of the story is this: When we’re talking in terms of obesity, the biggest factor appears to be the kind of foods we eat, not how active we are.
So for those who are struggling to shed a few pounds and just not having a good go of it - despite being physically active - examine just what it is that you’ve been consuming, ie the qualitative nature of your foodstuffs.
And keep in mind that high amounts of UPF in one’s diet has been associated with increases in body fat percentages.