Calorie in, calorie out. If you have more calorie than the control group, no matter what substance that is - brownies, Cliff Bar, apples picked by Tim Cook, fruit juice, or Coca-Cola, and you expend as much energy as control, you’re going to end up heavier. Where are the calories gonna go? They’re going to stay in the body. You put them in there, they didn’t, and you didn’t do more stuff to take them out.
I think the hand wringing about natural vs processed is really about how appealing a given food is - anyone is more likely to overindulge in hyper palatable foods, so if natural foods are less palatable it’s good for that reason. Fruit (juice) is an example of a natural food that can be hyper palatable. So, beware just as you’d beware of Cheetos or Almond Roca.
I think the hand wringing about natural vs processed is really about how appealing a given food is - anyone is more likely to overindulge in hyper palatable foods, so if natural foods are less palatable it’s good for that reason. Fruit (juice) is an example of a natural food that can be hyper palatable. So, beware just as you’d beware of Cheetos or Almond Roca.