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Research papers on Ultra-processed foods and health

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  1. The UN Decade of Nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing

    Carlos Augusto Monteiro, Geoffrey Cannon, Jean‐Claude Moubarac, et al. · 2017 · Public Health Nutrition · 2,298 citations

    Given evident multiple threats to food systems and supplies, food security, human health and welfare, the living and physical world and the biosphere, the years 2016-2025 are now designated by the UN as the Decade of Nutrition, in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. For these initiatives to succeed, it is necessary to know which foods contribute to health and well-being, and which are unhealthy. The present commentary outlines the NOVA system of food classification based on the nature, extent and purpose of food processing. Evidence that NOVA effectively addresses the quality of diets and their impact on all forms of malnutrition, and also the sustainability of food systems, has

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  2. Ultra‐processed foods and the nutrition transition: Global, regional and national trends, food systems transformations and political economy drivers

    Phillip Baker, Priscila Machado, Thiago M. Santos, et al. · 2020 · Obesity Reviews · 1,177 citations

    Understanding the drivers and dynamics of global ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is essential, given the evidence linking these foods with adverse health outcomes. In this synthesis review, we take two steps. First, we quantify per capita volumes and trends in UPF sales, and ingredients (sweeteners, fats, sodium and cosmetic additives) supplied by these foods, in countries classified by income and region. Second, we review the literature on food systems and political economy factors that likely explain the observed changes. We find evidence for a substantial expansion in the types and quantities of UPFs sold worldwide, representing a transition towards a more processed global diet but

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  3. Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis

    Giuditta Pagliai, Monica Dinu, Maria Pia Madarena, et al. · 2020 · British Journal Of Nutrition · 1,045 citations

    Increasing evidence suggests that high consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) is associated with an increase in non-communicable diseases, overweight and obesity. The present study systematically reviewed all observational studies that investigated the association between UPF consumption and health status. A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar was conducted, and reference lists of included articles were checked. Only cross-sectional and prospective cohort studies were included. At the end of the selection process, twenty-three studies (ten cross-sectional and thirteen prospective cohort studies) were included in the systematic review. As reg

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  4. Consumption of ultra-processed foods and cancer risk: results from NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort

    Thibault Fiolet, Bernard Srour, Laury Sellem, et al. · 2018 · BMJ · 1,022 citations

    OBJECTIVE: To assess the prospective associations between consumption of ultra-processed food and risk of cancer. DESIGN: Population based cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 104 980 participants aged at least 18 years (median age 42.8 years) from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort (2009-17). Dietary intakes were collected using repeated 24 hour dietary records, designed to register participants' usual consumption for 3300 different food items. These were categorised according to their degree of processing by the NOVA classification. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Associations between ultra-processed food intake and risk of overall, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer assessed by multivariable

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  5. Ultra-processed food intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: prospective cohort study (NutriNet-Santé)

    Bernard Srour, Léopold Fezeu, Emmanuelle Kesse‐Guyot, et al. · 2019 · BMJ · 930 citations

    OBJECTIVE: To assess the prospective associations between consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk of cardiovascular diseases. DESIGN: Population based cohort study. SETTING: NutriNet-Santé cohort, France 2009-18. PARTICIPANTS: 105 159 participants aged at least 18 years. Dietary intakes were collected using repeated 24 hour dietary records (5.7 for each participant on average), designed to register participants' usual consumption of 3300 food items. These foods were categorised using the NOVA classification according to degree of processing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Associations between intake of ultra-processed food and overall risk of cardiovascular, coronary heart, and cerebrovascular

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  6. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses

    Melissa M. Lane, Elizabeth Gamage, Shutong Du, et al. · 2024 · BMJ · 801 citations

    OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the existing meta-analytic evidence of associations between exposure to ultra-processed foods, as defined by the Nova food classification system, and adverse health outcomes. DESIGN: Systematic umbrella review of existing meta-analyses. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, as well as manual searches of reference lists from 2009 to June 2023. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of cohort, case-control, and/or cross sectional study designs. To evaluate the credibility of evidence, pre-specified evidence classification criteria were applied, graded as convincing ("class I"),

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  7. Association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and all cause mortality: SUN prospective cohort study

    Anaïs Rico-Campà, Miguel Ángel Martínez‐González, Ismael Álvarez‐Álvarez, et al. · 2019 · BMJ · 541 citations

    OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and all cause mortality. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort of university graduates, Spain 1999-2018. PARTICIPANTS: 19 899 participants (12 113 women and 7786 men) aged 20-91 years followed-up every two years between December 1999 and February 2014 for food and drink consumption, classified according to the degree of processing by the NOVA classification, and evaluated through a validated 136 item food frequency questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Association between consumption of energy adjusted ultra-processed foods categorised into quarters (low, lo

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  8. Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health outcomes: a systematic review of epidemiological studies

    Xiaojia Chen, Zhang Zhang, Huijie Yang, et al. · 2020 · Nutrition Journal · 515 citations

    BACKGROUND: Consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) plays a potential role in the development of obesity and other diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), but no studies have systematically focused on this. This study aimed to summarize the evidence for the association between UPFs consumption and health outcomes. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science to identify all relevant studies. Epidemiological studies were included, and identified studies were evaluated for risk of bias.A narrative review of the synthesized findings was provided to assess the association between UPFs consumption and health outcomes. RESULTS: 20 studies (12 cohort

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  9. Consumption of ultra-processed foods and associated sociodemographic factors in the USA between 2007 and 2012: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study

    Larissa Galastri Baraldi, Eurídice Martínez Steele, Daniela Silva Canella, et al. · 2018 · BMJ Open · 507 citations

    OBJECTIVES: To compare ultra-processed food consumption across sociodemographic groups and over time (2007-2008, 2009-2010, 2011-2012) in the USA. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2012. PARTICIPANTS: All individuals aged ≥2 years with at least one 24-hour dietary recall were included (n=23 847). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Average dietary contribution of ultra-processed foods (expressed as a percentage of the total caloric value of the diet), obtained after classifying all food items according to extent and purpose of industrial food processing using NOVA classification. DATA ANALYSIS: Linear regression was used to evaluate the

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  10. Ultra-processed food consumption and excess weight among US adults

    Filippa Juul, Eurídice Martínez Steele, Niyati Parekh, et al. · 2018 · British Journal Of Nutrition · 481 citations

    Ultra-processed foods provide 58 % of energy intake and 89 % of added sugars in the American diet. Nevertheless, the association between ultra-processed foods and excess weight has not been investigated in a US sample. The present investigation therefore aims to examine the association between ultra-processed foods and excess weight in a nationally representative sample of US adults. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of anthropometric and dietary data from 15 977 adults (20-64 years) participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2014. Dietary data were collected by 24-h recall. Height, weight and waist circumference (WC) were measured. Foods were classified

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  11. Consumption of ultra-processed foods and body fat during childhood and adolescence: a systematic review

    Caroline S. Costa, Bianca Del‐Ponte, Maria Cecília Formoso Assunção, et al. · 2017 · Public Health Nutrition · 389 citations

    OBJECTIVE: To review the available literature on the association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and body fat during childhood and adolescence. DESIGN: A systematic review was conducted in the PubMed, Web of Science and LILACS databases. Studies that evaluated the association between consumption of ultra-processed food (exposure) and body fat (outcome) during childhood and adolescence were eligible. SUBJECTS: Healthy children and adolescents. RESULTS: Twenty-six studies that evaluated groups of ultra-processed foods (such as snacks, fast foods, junk foods and convenience foods) or specific ultra-processed foods (soft drinks/sweetened beverages, sweets, chocolate and ready-to-eat

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  12. A Systematic Review of Worldwide Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods: Findings and Criticisms

    Mirko Marino, Federica Puppo, Cristian Del Bo’, et al. · 2021 · Nutrients · 326 citations

    A debate is ongoing on the significance and appropriateness of the NOVA classification as a tool for categorizing foods based on their degree of processing. As such, the role of ultra-processed food (UPF) on human health is still not completely understood. With this review, we aimed to investigate the actual level of consumption of UPF across countries and target populations to determine the impact in real contexts. Suitable articles published up to March 2021 were sourced through the PubMed and SCOPUS databases. Overall, 99 studies providing data on the level of UPF consumption expressed as the percentage of total energy intake were identified, for a total of 1,378,454 participants. Most of

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  13. Energy contribution of NOVA food groups and sociodemographic determinants of ultra-processed food consumption in the Mexican population

    Joaquín A Marrón-Ponce, Tania G Sánchez-Pimienta, Maria Laura da Costa Louzada, et al. · 2018 · Public Health Nutrition · 192 citations

    AbstractObjectiveTo identify the energy contributions of NOVA food groups in the Mexican diet and the associations between individual sociodemographic characteristics and the energy contribution of ultra-processed foods (UPF).DesignWe classified foods and beverages reported in a 24 h recall according to the NOVA food framework into: (i) unprocessed or minimally processed foods; (ii) processed culinary ingredients; (iii) processed foods; and (iv) UPF. We estimated the energy contribution of each food group and ran a multiple linear regression to identify the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and UPF energy contribution.SettingMexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 20

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  15. Food consumption by NOVA food classification, metabolic outcomes, and barriers to healthy food consumption among university students

    Elizabeth Sekyi, Nana Ama Frimpomaa Agyapong, Guy Eshun · 2024 · Food Science & Nutrition · 10 citations

    Abstract The NOVA food classification system is a simple tool that can be used to assess the consumption levels of different categories of foods based on their level of processing. The degree to which food is processed has a significant impact on health outcomes. In Ghana, no study exists on the consumption of the different NOVA food groups among tertiary students and how it relates to their metabolic outcomes. This study assessed the frequency of food intake according to the NOVA classification and how they relate to body mass index, waist circumference, and blood pressure. The barriers to the consumption of healthy foods among students were also assessed. This was a cross

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  16. Food Allergens in Ultra-Processed Foods According to the NOVA Classification System: A Greek Branded Food Level Analysis

    Alexandra Katidi, Stefania Xanthopoulou, Antonis Vlassopoulos, et al. · 2023 · Nutrients · 10 citations

    Ultra-processed foods’ (UPFs’) consumption has been positively linked to the presence of allergic symptoms, but it is yet unknown whether this is linked to their nutritional composition or allergen load. This study used the ingredient lists available in the Greek Branded Food Composition Database, HelTH, to classify foods (n = 4587) into four grades of food processing (NOVA1–4) according to the NOVA System. Associations between NOVA grades and the presence of allergens (as an ingredient or trace) were studied. Overall, UPFs (NOVA4) were more likely to contain allergens than unprocessed foods, NOVA1 (76.1% vs. 58.0%). However, nested analyses among similar foods showed that in >90% of case

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  17. “NOVA Tracker”: Statistical validation of the “NOVA Tracker” as an instrument that captures ultra-processed food consumption

    Philippe Belmont, Wilma B. Freire · 2023 · Bitácora Académica · 3 citations

    In Ecuador, overweight and obesity (ow/ob) reach alarmingly high levels of prevalence in adult and adolescent population. Sedentary habits, loss of dietary diversity and consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) are among the identified factorsthat increase the prevalence of ow/ob, which are part of a phenomenon identified as nutritional transition. The development of the agro-industrial sector, along with the urban lifestyle, contributes to a shift in eating patterns, increasing the risks ofchronic non-communicable diseases. This transition occurs when “traditional” diets are replaced with fewer basic foods and greater UPF consumption.

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  21. Associations between ultra-processed food consumption, sleep quality, and chronotype

    Eda Keskin, Betül Yılmazer, Ebrar Çalış · 2026 · Food and Health

    This study examined the associations between ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption, sleep quality, and chronotype. This cross-sectional study included 200 healthy adults, with data collected on demographic-health characteristics, anthropometric measurements, UPF consumption using the Screening Questionnaire of Highly Processed Food Consumption (sQ-HPF), sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and chronotype using the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). Participants’ mean age was 25.9±9.4 years; 54% were female. High UPF consumption was observed in 72.0% of participants, 74.0% had poor sleep quality, and 75.5% were classified as having an intermediate chronoty

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  22. Ultra Processed Food Consumption and Adolescent Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review

    Nourine YEGON, Miriam MUGA, Dominic KIPROTICH · 2026 · African Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics

    Ultra‑processed foods (UPFs; NOVA Group 4) are increasingly consumed by adolescents worldwide. This developmental stage is marked by rapid physical growth, hormonal changes, and the establishment of lifelong dietary patterns, making adolescents particularly vulnerable to the nutritional and health consequences of UPFs. There is limited evidence in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the face of a rapid shift in diet because the region is exposed more to UPFs by urbanization, marketing, and shifting food environments, adolescents are exposed to UPFs more and more.The study evaluated the relationship of UPF consumption and adolescent health outcomes. The review was done according to PRISMA 2020, five

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