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

Taissa Pereira de Araújo, Milena M. de Moraes, Vânia Magalhães, Cláudia Afonso, Cristina Santos and Sara S. P. Rodrigues
Additional contact information
Taissa Pereira de Araújo: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal
Milena M. de Moraes: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal
Vânia Magalhães: Public Health Institute, University of Porto, 4050-091 Porto, Portugal
Cláudia Afonso: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal
Cristina Santos: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal
Sara S. P. Rodrigues: Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-11

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 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7382/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7382/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7382-:d:591863

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().