SynthesisNutrients2021
A Systematic Review of Worldwide Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods: Findings and Criticisms.
Synthesis in Nutrients, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05834842 (An Internet-based Self-help Intervention for the Reduction of Consumption of Ultra-processed Products and Increase of Physical Activity in Mexican University Population), which is not on this map. Cited by 191 papers, 10 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.
An Internet-based Self-help Intervention for the Reduction of Consumption of Ultra-processed Products and Increase of Physical Activity in Mexican University Population: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
191 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of infertility in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Food and Chronic Kidney Disease Risk: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Recommendations.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
- Who consumes ultra-processed food? A systematic review of sociodemographic determinants of ultra-processed food consumption from nationally representative samples.Nutrition research reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Ultra-processed food consumption and the risk of incident chronic kidney disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.Renal failure · 2024Pooled it
- Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review on Processed/Ultra-Processed Foods and Arterial Hypertension in Adults and Older People.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adult Mortality Risk: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of 207,291 Participants.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Foods and Nutritional Dietary Profile: A Meta-Analysis of Nationally Representative Samples.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Foods Reduction Enhances Clinical Outcomes and Dietary Profiles in Patients With Gingivitis: Results From a Randomised Controlled Trial.Journal of clinical periodontology · 2026Trial
- Effectiveness of an Intervention to Prevent Ultra-Processed Foods and Added Sugar in the First Year of Life: A Multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial in Brazil.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Trial
- Effect of dietary and lifestyle intervention in pregnant women: randomized clinical trial.Revista de saude publica · 2025Trial
- Snack quality and snack timing are associated with cardiometabolic blood markers: the ZOE PREDICT study.European journal of nutrition · 2024Trial
- Reliability and validity of assigning ultraprocessed food categories to 24-h dietary recall data.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Trial
- Ultra-processed Foods and Athletes: Current Insights on Classification, Use, Awareness, and Impact-A Narrative Review.Sports medicine - open · 2026Review
- Ultra-Processed Food Intake and Its Dietary Sources and Correlates Among Polish Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Ultra-Processed Food Policies and Global Nutrition Equity: The Case for a Feasibility-Grounded, Differentiated Governance Supplement to Nova.Nutrition bulletin · 2026Article
- Relationship between 39 dietary markers of ultra-processed food and incident depression: evidence from the prospective UK Biobank cohort study.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Per-Capita Food Availability and Global Dementia Burden Across Multiple Exposure Windows.Nutrients · 2026Article
131 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
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A debate is ongoing on the significance and appropriateness of the NOVA classification as a tool for categorizing foods based on their degree of processing. As such, the role of ultra-processed food (UPF) on human health is still not completely understood. With this review, we aimed to investigate the actual level of consumption of UPF across countries and target populations to determine the impact in real contexts. Suitable articles published up to March 2021 were sourced through the PubMed and SCOPUS databases. Overall, 99 studies providing data on the level of UPF consumption expressed as the percentage of total energy intake were identified, for a total of 1,378,454 participants. Most of them were published in Brazil (
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Registered trials
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.