SynthesisNutrition journal2020
Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health outcomes: a systematic review of epidemiological studies.
Synthesis in Nutrition journal, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 239 papers, 14 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
239 citing papers in PubMed, 14 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Association between ultra-processed food consumption and risk of irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Food Intakes and Health Outcomes in Adults Older Than 60 Years: A Systematic Review.Nutrition reviews · 2025Pooled it
- The Association of Food Insecurity and Risk of Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Large-Scale Cohorts.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Ultra-processed foods and risk of declined renal function: a dose-response meta-analysis of 786,216 participants.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Risk factors for developing irritable bowel syndrome: systematic umbrella review of reviews.BMC medicine · 2025Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies of ultra-processed food consumption with DNA methylation in European children.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Pooled it
- Neurobiological insights into the effects of ultra-processed food on lipid metabolism and associated mental health conditions: a scoping review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- High intake of ultra-processed food is associated with dementia in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.Journal of neurology · 2024Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Bidirectional Association Between Consumption of Ultra-processed Food and Sleep Parameters Among Adults.Current obesity reports · 2023Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Food Intake Is Associated with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Adoption, implementation, and sustainability of early childhood feeding, nutrition and active play interventions in real-world settings: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2023Pooled it
- Association between ultra-processed foods and risk of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Maternal Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods-Rich Diet and Perinatal Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review on Processed/Ultra-Processed Foods and Arterial Hypertension in Adults and Older People.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- "Warning: ultra-processed": an online experiment examining the impact of ultra-processed warning labels on consumers' product perceptions and behavioral intentions.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Trial
- Front-of-Package Labels on Unhealthy Packaged Foods in India: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment.Nutrients · 2022Trial
- Integrative development of a short screening questionnaire of highly processed food consumption (sQ-HPF).The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Trial
- When Ultra-Processed Foods are Eaten: The Missing Dimension in Exposure Measurement for Obesity Research.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Article
- Unhealthy Diets, Unhealthy Futures: How Modern Eating Patterns Endanger Maternal and Offspring Health.Nutrients · 2026Review
179 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundConsumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) plays a potential role in the development of obesity and other diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), but no studies have systematically focused on this. This study aimed to summarize the evidence for the association between UPFs consumption and health outcomes.
methodsA comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science to identify all relevant studies. Epidemiological studies were included, and identified studies were evaluated for risk of bias.A narrative review of the synthesized findings was provided to assess the association between UPFs consumption and health outcomes.
results20 studies (12 cohort and 8 cross-sectional studies) were included in the analysis, with a total of 334,114 participants and 10 health outcomes. In a narrative review, high UPFs consumption was obviously associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality, overall cardiovascular diseases, coronary heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, overweight and obesity, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, overall cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, gestational obesity, adolescent asthma and wheezing, and frailty. It showed no significant association with cardiovascular disease mortality, prostate and colorectal cancers, gestational diabetes mellitus and gestational overweight.
conclusionsThis study indicated a positive association between UPFs consumption and risk of several health outcomes. Large-scale prospective designed studies are needed to confirm our findings.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.