Scientists Reveal Why Bread Can Cause Weight Gain Without Overeating17 April 2026 ByDavid Nield (Photographer Basak Gurbuz Derman/Moment/Getty Images) New research in mice shows how eating bread can cause body weight and fat mass to increase, even though caloric intake stays at a similar level. The research, led by a team from Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan, highlights how carbohydrates can contribute to weight gain as well as excessive fat intake – which is what dietary advice tends to focus on. This isn't the first time nutritionists have talked about bread and carbohydrates and their contribution to weight gain, but there hasn't been much detailed research into the relationship – especially wheat flour – or into what might be happening at a metabolic level. The team discovered that eating more wheat bread was associated with reduced energy expenditure, pushing the metabolism towards a state where fat storage is prioritized, even when the calories in a diet stay at a similar level. The researchers analyzed the difference that bread in the diets of mice had on their weight (A) and fat tissue (B, C). (Matsumura et al., Mol. Nutr. Food Res., 2026) "These findings suggest that weight gain may not be due to wheat-specific effects, but rather to a strong preference for carbohydrates and the associated metabolic changes," says nutritionist Shigenobu Matsumura of Osaka Metropolitan University. The researchers set up experiments in which lab mice were given a choice between their normal, healthy cereal-based diet and either simple bread, baked wheat flour, or baked rice flour. The mice were then monitored to check their weight and how their bodies burned calories at rest and when active. Using blood samples, the study team also examined hormone, blood sugar, and metabolite levels in the animals, while post-experiment tissue analyses assessed gene expression in the liver. The experiments showed that the mice strongly preferred to switch from their standard diet to carbohydrate-heavy snacks, which then led to weight gain and more fat tissue in the mice, particularly in the males. Further analysis and follow-up tests suggested that these two key changes were being driven not by overeating or a lack of exercise, but by the foods themselves. In the wheat flour diet, fewer calories were being burned overall, while genes responsible for turning carbohydrates into fat were activated. Another follow-up test focusing on the wheat flour group showed that when the chow diet was restored, the weight gain stopped, and the metabolic shifts were reversed. "In the future, we hope this will serve as a scientific foundation for achieving a balance between 'taste' and 'health' in the fields of nutritional guidance, food education, and food development," says Matsumura. The findings are more evidence of how what we eat can cause changes in how our body processes food and burns the calories it contains. In the case of bread, it seems to slow down the body's metabolic engine. One limitation of the study is that it used mouse models, rather than human volunteers. While it's likely that similar processes are happening in people, it's not certain – so that's something future studies can pick up. The researchers also want to experiment with a broader selection of foods to identify what exactly it is about bread that causes this reaction. No diet study like this exists in isolation, of course. We know that a variety of other factors can also impact how our metabolism reacts to food and drink, including age and hormone-related changes. Related: There's a Surprising Link Between a Key Nutrient, Obesity, And Alzheimer's Risk Further research should help establish the role that wheat and bread can play in a diet and how the simple "calories in, calories out" rule isn't always straightforward. "Going forward, we plan to shift our research focus to humans to verify the extent to which the metabolic changes identified in this study apply to actual dietary habits," says Matsumura. "We also intend to investigate how factors such as whole grains, unrefined grains, and foods rich in dietary fiber, as well as their combinations with proteins and fats, food processing methods, and timing of consumption, affect metabolic responses to carbohydrate intake." The research has been published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. ARTICLE SOURCE: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-reveal-why-bread-can-cause-weight-gain-without-overeating
Okay, so this is a little scarier. The prospect of blending lab meat and real meat together. It better be clearly marked.
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What Is Hybrid Meat And How Does It Differ From Plant-Based Varieties?
BY CORIN MJ BAE/OCT. 7, 2023 9:00 PM EST
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Despite studies showing that eating meat increases greenhouse gas emissions — and that just a 50% plant-based substitution could cut emissions by a third — projections for global meat consumption are going up. With the plant-based meat industry facing substantial financial hurdles due to a lack of demand, it seems like the human appetite for a real cut of beef isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Thankfully, there's a strong candidate for a long-term solution to the problem: hybrid meat, an alt-meat that combines lab-cultivated animal meat and plant-based substitutes for the most authentic taste possible at a much more sustainable footprint.
You might be asking, why not just pivot to cultivated meat entirely? The lab meat industry has been making major breakthroughs in science and legislation, with 2023 seeing the first FDA approval of cultivated meat. However, despite the fact that the U.S. will most definitely be seeing more cultivated meat products in the future, the harsh truth is that lab-grown meat production is still too expensive to be viable from a consumer perspective. Combining it with plant-based alternatives not only helps lower the price but adds a healthier element via the vegetables included in the plant-based portion: The newly growing hybrid meat industry is looking to tackle the issue by innovating the perfect ratio between taste and affordability to offer an alt-meat that's the best of every world.
The growing industry of hybrid meat
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Currently, the biggest names in the hybrid meat industry are Meatable and Love Handle, two sustainability-focused companies collaborating on the world's first hybrid meat development facility in Singapore. Announced in late 2022, the Future of Meat Innovation Center currently hosts Meatable and Love Handle's projects as well as inviting those of other alt-meat startups and ventures with the ultimate goal of fostering the industry as a whole. So far, the center has seen some incredible progress: According to Meatable, the company now has a means of producing real meat tissue from cells in as little as eight days and will be launching its hybrid meat products in Singapore as early as 2024.
Currently, Meatable has every intention of expanding its operations to the U.S. market. However, with the sharp drop in revenue, setbacks, and loss of consumer faith the alt-meat industry has been battling in the U.S., it's unclear if hybrid meat will be able to make a solid landing and establish itself in the current market. There's also the looming fact that, despite the plant-based element making hybrid meat much cheaper than 100% cultivated meat, it remains a premium-priced product in comparison to conventional meat. Hopefully, we'll be seeing further innovations that'll help bring hybrid meat — as well as completely plant-based alternatives — closer to price parity and onto our tables.
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Article Source: https://www.tastingtable.com/1409364/what-is-hybrid-meat-difference-meatless-varieties/
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