ArticlePublic health nutrition2020
Ultra-processed foods, incident overweight and obesity, and longitudinal changes in weight and waist circumference: the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).
Article in Public health nutrition, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 119 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
119 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Impact of ultra-processed foods consumption on the burden of obesity and type 2 diabetes in Belgium: a comparative risk assessment.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Causality or confounding? Applying E values to examine associations between ultra-processed food consumption and risk of weight gain.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Foods and Human Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Ultra-processed foods and obesity and adiposity parameters among children and adolescents: a systematic review.European journal of nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Worldwide Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods: Findings and Criticisms.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Food Availability and Noncommunicable Diseases: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The British journal of nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Market strategies used by processed food manufacturers to increase and consolidate their power: a systematic review and document analysis.Globalization and health · 2021Pooled it
- Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods and Metabolic Parameters in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Trial
- The Results of Ultra-Processed Food Consumption on Weight Change: A Randomized Controlled Community Trial in a Health Promotion Program.Nutrients · 2025Trial
- Isocaloric replacement of ultraprocessed foods was associated with greater weight loss in the POUNDS Lost trial.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2024Trial
- No significant salt or sweet taste preference or sensitivity differences following ad libitum consumption of ultra-processed and unprocessed diets: a randomized controlled pilot study.Chemical senses · 2023Trial
- Within-Person Variation in Ultra-Processed Food Consumption Is Associated with Total Daily Energy Intake.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Are ultra-processed foods really cheap? Reassessing health, equity and environmental costs across the life course in low- and middle-income countries.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Higher consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with disordered eating symptoms and low-quality diet in adults with obesity.Archives of endocrinology and metabolism · 2026Article
- Blood pressure is associated with ultra-processed food intake in a sex- and age-specific manner during the transition to adulthood in Cebu, Philippines.The British journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods and Sustainable Lifestyles: A Multicenter Study.Nutrients · 2026Observational
- High-dimensional partial linear model with trend filtering.Electronic journal of statistics · 2026Article
- Association of ultra-processed food patterns with overweight and obesity in the German health interview and examination survey for children and adolescents (KiGGS): a longitudinal study.BMC public health · 2025Article
59 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the association of ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption with gains in weight and waist circumference, and incident overweight/obesity, in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) cohort.
designWe applied FFQ at baseline and categorized energy intake by degree of processing using the NOVA classification. Height, weight and waist circumference were measured at baseline and after a mean 3·8-year follow-up. We assessed associations, through Poisson regression with robust variance, of UPF consumption with large weight gain (1·68 kg/year) and large waist gain (2·42 cm/year), both being defined as ≥90th percentile in the cohort, and with incident overweight/obesity.
settingBrazil.
participantsCivil servants of Brazilian public academic institutions in six cities (n 11 827), aged 35-74 years at baseline (2008-2010).
resultsUPF provided a mean 24·6 (sd 9·6) % of ingested energy. After adjustment for smoking, physical activity, adiposity and other factors, fourth (>30·8 %) v. first (<17·8 %) quartile of UPF consumption was associated (relative risk (95 % CI)) with 27 and 33 % greater risk of large weight and waist gains (1·27 (1·07, 1·50) and 1·33 (1·12, 1·58)), respectively. Similarly, those in the fourth consumption quartile presented 20 % greater risk (1·20 (1·03, 1·40)) of incident overweight/obesity and 2 % greater risk (1·02; (0·85, 1·21)) of incident obesity. Approximately 15 % of cases of large weight and waist gains and of incident overweight/obesity could be attributed to consumption of >17·8 % of energy as UPF.
conclusionsGreater UPF consumption predicts large gains in overall and central adiposity and may contribute to the inexorable rise in obesity seen worldwide.
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