Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul 10;18(14):7382.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18147382.

Ultra-Processed Food Availability and Noncommunicable Diseases: A Systematic Review

Taissa Pereira de Araújo  1   2 , Milena M de Moraes  1   2 , Vânia Magalhães  2   3 , Cláudia Afonso  1   2 , Cristina Santos  1   4 , Sara S P Rodrigues  1   2
Affiliations

Ultra-Processed Food Availability and Noncommunicable Diseases: A Systematic Review

Taissa Pereira de Araújo et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Ultra-processed food (UPF) can be harmful to the population's health. To establish associations between UPF and health outcomes, food consumption can be assessed using availability data, such as purchase lists or household budget surveys. The aim of this systematic review was to search studies that related UPF availability with noncommunicable diseases or their risk factors. PRISMA guidelines were used. Searches were performed in PubMed, EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science in February 2021. The search strategy included terms related to exposure (UPF) and outcomes (noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors). Studies that assessed only food consumption at an individual level and did not present health outcomes were excluded. Two reviewers conducted the selection process, and a third helped when disagreement occurred. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the studies' quality; 998 records were analyzed. All 11 eligible studies were ecological and assessed overweight and obesity as a health outcome, only one showed no positive association with UPF availability. Two studies included the prevalence of diabetes as an outcome, however no significant association was found with UPF availability. Studies relating UPF availability and health outcomes are focused on overweight and obesity. It is necessary to further explore the relationship between other health outcomes and UPF availability using purchase or sales data.

Keywords: food processing; households; noncommunicable diseases; systematic review; ultra-processed food.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the study selection for the present systematic review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization . European Health Report 2018 More Than Numbers—Evidence for All. Regional Office for Europe; Copenhagen, Denmark: 2018. p. 147.
    1. Popkin B. Nutritional Patterns and Transitions. Popul. Dev. Rev. 1993;19:138. doi: 10.2307/2938388. - DOI
    1. Popkin B. Global nutrition dynamics: The world is shifting rapidly toward a diet linked with noncommunicable diseases. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;84:289–298. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/84.2.289. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fardet A. Characterization of the Degree of Food Processing in Relation with Its Health Potential and Effects. Adv. Food Nutr. Res. 2018;85:79–129. - PubMed
    1. Monteiro C.A. Nutrition and health. The issue is not food, nor nutrients, so much as processing. Public Health Nutr. 2009;12:729–731. doi: 10.1017/S1368980009005291. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources