Yes, the articles are scientific.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01698...
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144929041000166...
https://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2121593
Though this lacks citations and evidence, it's by a generally accepted expert and authority in the field:
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/low-contrast/
I'm really struggling to understand the connections you're drawing to food.
It’s ok if you’re struggling. As long as you are humble enough to admit it.
The food pyramid is based off of cherry picked data and biased experiments influenced the food industry. This is similar to your cherry picked data.
Your data measures low contrast vs high contrast but really you need to measure high contrast vs. blurred background.
Blurred background is unpredictable contrast, sometimes low, sometimes high. Plus the motion behind it would be distracting. You can see the impact on the static screenshot in the OP where the text is harder to read over the light part of the blurred background than the dark part of the blurred background.