ArticlePublic health nutrition2021
Ultra-processed foods drive to unhealthy diets: evidence from Chile.
Article in Public health nutrition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ultra-Processed Foods and Nutritional Dietary Profile: A Meta-Analysis of Nationally Representative Samples.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Worldwide Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods: Findings and Criticisms.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Reliability and validity of assigning ultraprocessed food categories to 24-h dietary recall data.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Trial
- Emerging trends in the global burden of colorectal cancer.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Sociodemographic, Economic, and Health Factors Associated with Ultra-Processed Food Intake Among Older Adults in Chile.Nutrients · 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
- Assessing the role of ultra-processed foods in colorectal cancer incidence: insights from the EPIC cohort.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Associations Between Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods and Diet Quality Among Children and Adolescents.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Consensus Conference Series on Dysglycemia-Based Chronic Disease (DBCD) in Latin America: The Chilean Transculturalization.Annals of global health · 2026Article
- Is obesity the missing link? Ultra-processed foods and metabolic and reproductive outcomes: a narrative review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Functional foods and their potential impact on women's health in Chile.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Dietary patterns and socioeconomic disadvantage: an analysis of food consumption patterns and their determinants in Cochabamba, Bolivia.BMC global and public health · 2025Article
- Degree of Food Processing and Incidence of Obesity-Related Cancers in the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" Project.The Journal of nutrition · 2025Article
- Diet quality and consumption of ultra-processed foods according to age groups in Brazil: insights from the National Dietary Survey 2017-2018.The British journal of nutrition · 2025Article
- Food Preservatives and the Rising Tide of Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer: Mechanisms, Controversies, and Emerging Innovations.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Observational
- The Association between Ultra-Processed Foods and Depression, Anxiety and Sleep in Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study in Iran.Food science & nutrition · 2025Article
- EAT-Nutrients · 2025Article
- Fifteen Years of NOVA Food-Processing Classification: "Friend or Foe" Among Sustainable Diet Indicators? A Scoping Review.Nutrition reviews · 2025Article
- Associations between degree of food processing and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a multicentre prospective cohort analysis in 9 European countries.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo assess the consumption of ultra-processed foods and its association with the overall dietary content of nutrients related to non-communicable diseases (NCD) in the Chilean diet and to estimate the population attributable fraction of ultra-processed food consumption on the unhealthy nutrient content.
designCross-sectional analysis of dietary data collected through a national survey (2010).
settingChile.
participantsChilean population aged ≥2 years (n 4920).
resultsIn Chile, ultra-processed foods represented 28·6 % of the total energy intake. A significant positive association was found between the dietary share of ultra-processed foods and NCD-promoting nutrients such as dietary energy density (standardised regression coefficient (β) = 0·22), content of free sugars (β = 0·45), total fats (β = 0·26), saturated fats (β = 0·19), trans fats (β = 0·09) and Na:K ratio (β = 0·04), while a significant negative association was found with the content of NCD-protective nutrients such as K (β = -0·19) and fibre (β = -0·31). The content of Na (β = 0·02) presented no significant association. Except for Na, the prevalence of inadequate intake of all nutrients (WHO recommendations) increased across quintiles of the dietary share of ultra-processed foods. With the reduction of ultra-processed foods consumption to the level seen among the 20 % lowest consumers (3·8 % (0-9·3 %) of the total energy from ultra-processed foods), the prevalence of nutrient inadequacy would be reduced in almost three-fourths for trans fats; in half for energy density (foods); in around one-third for saturated fats, energy density (beverages), free sugars and total fats; in near 20 % for fibre and Na:K ratio and in 13 % for K.
conclusionsIn Chile, decreasing the consumption of ultra-processed foods is a potentially effective way to achieve the WHO nutrient goals for the prevention of diet-related NCD.
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Registered trials
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