ArticlePublic health nutrition2016
Ultra-processed foods have the worst nutrient profile, yet they are the most available packaged products in a sample of New Zealand supermarkets.
Article in Public health nutrition, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 95 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Consumption of fast foods and ultra-processed foods and breast cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Global health research and policy · 2025Pooled it
- Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Pooled it
- Consumption of ultra-processed foods among patients with rheumatic diseases: a cross-sectional study and validation of the short screening questionnaire of highly processed food consumption (sQ-HPF) in the Greek language.Rheumatology international · 2026Article
- Are All Ultra-Processed Foods Created Equal? Descriptive Analysis of Nutritional Composition, Nutritional Quality, Energy Density and Hyperpalatability in Relation to Non-Communicable Disease Risk.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Association between food-based dietary inflammatory index and dental health: results from Bandare-Kong Non-Communicable Disease (BKNCD) cohort.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- A controlled before-after quasi-experimental study examining the impacts of a supermarket on-shelf nutrition labelling intervention on food sales by type of food processing.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026Article
- Review
- Foods of concern, cardiopreventive medication use and risk of cardiovascular diseases: a prospective study in the CARTaGENE cohort.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Ultra processed foods and their inputs increasingly dominate New Zealand's food and beverage imports: a retrospective analysis.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Diet Quality and Physical Activity in Children and Caregivers From PAVILA Shelter in Northern México.Nutrition and metabolic insights · 2026Article
- Genetic and Environmental Influences on Sweet Taste Liking and Related Traits: New Insights from Twin Cohorts.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- Ultraprocessed Food and Risk of Cancer: Mechanistic Pathways and Public Health Implications.Cancers · 2025Review
- Ultra-Processed Foods in the Food Supply: Prevalence, Nutritional Composition and Use of Voluntary Labelling Schemes.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Ultra-Processed Food and Its Impact on Bone Health and Joint Diseases: A Scoping Review.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Ultra-processed food, genetic predisposition, and the risk of kidney stone: a population-based prospective cohort study.European journal of nutrition · 2025Article
- Ultra-processed foods and plant-based alternatives impair nutritional quality of omnivorous and plant-forward dietary patterns in college students.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Extent of alignment between the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the NOVA classification system across the Australian packaged food supply.Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia · 2025Article
- The prevalence and co-occurrence of emulsifiers, thickeners and stabilizers in food products on the Norwegian market.Food & nutrition research · 2025Article
- The independent and combined associations between the intake of ultra-processed foods, sedentary behavior, and depressive symptoms in young adults.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Associations of minimally processed and ultra-processed food intakes with cardiovascular health in Korean adults: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES VI), 2013-2015.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2024Article
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo examine the availability of packaged food products in New Zealand supermarkets by level of industrial processing, nutrient profiling score (NPSC), price (energy, unit and serving costs) and brand variety.
designSecondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data on packaged supermarket food and non-alcoholic beverages. Products were classified according to level of industrial processing (minimally, culinary and ultra-processed) and their NPSC.
settingPackaged foods available in four major supermarkets in Auckland, New Zealand. SUBJECTS: Packaged supermarket food products for the years 2011 and 2013.
resultsThe majority (84% in 2011 and 83% in 2013) of packaged foods were classified as ultra-processed. A significant positive association was found between the level of industrial processing and NPSC, i.e., ultra-processed foods had a worse nutrient profile (NPSC=11.63) than culinary processed foods (NPSC=7.95), which in turn had a worse nutrient profile than minimally processed foods (NPSC=3.27), P<0.001. No clear associations were observed between the three price measures and level of processing. The study observed many variations of virtually the same product. The ten largest food manufacturers produced 35% of all packaged foods available.
conclusionsIn New Zealand supermarkets, ultra-processed foods comprise the largest proportion of packaged foods and are less healthy than less processed foods. The lack of significant price difference between ultra- and less processed foods suggests ultra-processed foods might provide time-poor consumers with more value for money. These findings highlight the need to improve the supermarket food supply by reducing numbers of ultra-processed foods and by reformulating products to improve their nutritional profile.
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