ArticlePublic health nutrition2020
The heuristics that guide healthiness perception of ultra-processed foods: a qualitative exploration.
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 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Before we tell people to avoid ultra-processed foods, can they identify them? The case for cognitive validity criteria in food classification.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Improving consumer understanding of dietary health risks using the lens of ultra-processing: an experimental study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Perceptions of ultra-processed foods, food processing and food healthfulness among a cross-sectional national sample of US adults: do perceptions align with the evidence?Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Do Public Perceptions of the Environment Align With Empirical Measures?Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand · 2026Article
- How young adults in the United States understand and conceptualise ultra-processed foods.Journal of nutritional science · 2026Article
- Perceptions Regarding Healthy Eating Based on Concept Mapping.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Factors influencing perceptions of processed baby foods and feeding practices among Indian mothers: a qualitative investigation.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Evaluation of the Consumption of Junk Food Products and Lifestyle among Teenagers and Young Population from Romania.Nutrients · 2024Article
- How Promising Are "Ultraprocessed" Front-of-Package Labels? A Formative Study with US Adults.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Health first, convenience second: Caregiver perspectives of commercially produced complementary foods in five Southeast Asian capital cities.Maternal & child nutrition · 2023Article
- Oxidative Status of Ultra-Processed Foods in the Western Diet.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Transitioning diets: a mixed methods study on factors affecting inclusion of millets in the urban population.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Observational
- Analysis of Recipes Shared as 'Healthy' in a Popular Brazilian Website: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Consumer Awareness of the Degree of Industrial Food Processing and the Association with Healthiness-A Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Dissecting ultra-processed foods and drinks: Do they have a potential to impact the brain?Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2022Review
- "Even We Are Confused": A Thematic Analysis of Professionals' Perceptions of Processed Foods and Challenges for Communication.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Marketing of commercial foods for infant and young children in Uruguay: sugary products, health cues on packages and fun social products on Facebook.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- Associated factors to the consumption of ultra-processed foods and its relation with dietary sources in Portugal.Journal of nutritional science · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo explore the conceptualisation of healthy food by citizens and how they judge the healthiness of ultra-processed foods.
designFour focus groups were conducted using a semi-structured discussion guide. Focus group discussions were held about the concept of healthy food, what characterise a healthy product and healthiness perception of ultra-processed products. Transcripts of the focus groups were analysed following an inductive coding approach.
settingUruguay, one of the Latin American countries with the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity.
participantsFifty-two adult Uruguayan participants, diverse in terms of gender, age, educational level and socio-economic status.
resultsIn agreement with previous studies on lay perceptions of healthy eating, the conceptualisation of healthy food was mainly focused on food characteristics. Although participants regarded lack of processing as a cue for healthiness, they did not categorise all ultra-processed products as unhealthy. Albeit some product categories were automatically regarded as unhealthy, participants considered that other categories could include healthy and unhealthy products. In such cases, they explicitly referred to several simplified cognitive strategies to judge whether an ultra-processed product is healthy or not. Results showed that participants tended to rely on simple cues, such as label design, nutrient claims, brand, price and country of origin as indicators of product healthiness.
conclusionsHealthiness perception of ultra-processed products seems to be largely influenced by heuristics, which stresses the need to implement policies that make the potential negative effects of ultra-processed products salient.
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