Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37085506›Full record

ArticleNature communications2023

Machine learning prediction of the degree of food processing.

Giulia Menichetti, Babak Ravandi, Dariush Mozaffarian, Albert-László Barabási

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
61citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

61 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  9. Exploring approaches to computational representation and classification of user-generated meal logs.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2026
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  19. Development and Validation of a New Tool for Assessing the Intake of Ultra-Processed Foods in Adult Population: GR-UPFAST.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Giulia MenichettiChanning Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5201-6774
Babak RavandiNetwork Science Institute and Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0203-5605
Dariush MozaffarianTufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7958-9492
Albert-László BarabásiNetwork Science Institute and Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA. a.barabasi@northeastern.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-4028-3522

Funding

The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science CenterUL1TR002541 · NCATS · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI NADLER, LEE MARSHALL · 2018 to 2022
$93.0M
Systems Biology of Airway DiseaseP01HL132825 · NHLBI · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI WEISS, SCOTT T · 2016 to 2020
$12.6M
Cost-Effectiveness of Health System and State-Level Strategies to Improve Diet and Reduce Cardiometabolic DiseasesR01HL115189 · NHLBI · TUFTS UNIVERSITY BOSTON · PI DARIUSH MOZAFFARIAN · 2013 to 2026
$8.2M
NHLBI NIH HHS P01 HL132825NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL115189
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Despite the accumulating evidence that increased consumption of ultra-processed food has adverse health implications, it remains difficult to decide what constitutes processed food. Indeed, the current processing-based classification of food has limited coverage and does not differentiate between degrees of processing, hindering consumer choices and slowing research on the health implications of processed food. Here we introduce a machine learning algorithm that accurately predicts the degree of processing for any food, indicating that over 73% of the US food supply is ultra-processed. We show that the increased reliance of an individual's diet on ultra-processed food correlates with higher risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, angina, elevated blood pressure and biological age, and reduces the bio-availability of vitamins. Finally, we find that replacing foods with less processed alternatives can significantly reduce the health implications of ultra-processed food, suggesting that access to information on the degree of processing, currently unavailable to consumers, could improve population health.

Indexed as

DietFast FoodsFood HandlingFood, ProcessedNutritive Value

Identifiers

PMID37085506
PMCPMC10121643

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.