ArticleLancet regional health. Americas2024
A policy approach to identifying food and beverage products that are ultra-processed and high in added salt, sugar and saturated fat in the United States: a cross-sectional analysis of packaged foods.
Article in Lancet regional health. Americas, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Influence of Ultraprocessed Food Consumption on Energy Intake in Emerging Adulthood: A Controlled Feeding Trial.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2026Trial
- "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
- Novel approaches for identifying unhealthy food and beverages for policy: a cross-sectional study of purchases of packaged products in Latin America.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Ultra-Processed Food Policies and Global Nutrition Equity: The Case for a Feasibility-Grounded, Differentiated Governance Supplement to Nova.Nutrition bulletin · 2026Article
- Trends in the Prevalence of Foods High in Saturated Fats, Sodium, and Added Sugars among U.S. adults, NHANES 2007-2018.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2026Article
- Ultra-processed and High fat-salt-sugar (HFSS) foods in India: a dual-axis framework for regulation.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Review
- Integrating Policies that Enable Minimally Processed Foods with Policies that Restrict Ultra-Processed Foods for Obesity and Noncommunicable Disease Prevention.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Article
- What Do Nova and the Ultraprocessed Food Concept Offer to Policymakers? From Updating Dietary Guidance to Regulatory Action and Advancing Sustainable Food System Transitions.American journal of public health · 2026Article
- The Intersection of Diet Quality and Ultraprocessed Food Intake: Using Evidence-Based Categories to Characterize Differences in Cardiometabolic Profiles.American journal of public health · 2026Article
- Operationally Defining and Targeting Ultraprocessed Foods: Insights From US Policy Proposals.American journal of public health · 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
- Effects of Controlled Diets High in and Free of Ultraprocessed Food on the Brain of Emerging Adults.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Quantifying the availability of hyper-palatable foods in US food stores and household purchasing behaviour.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Prioritising Indicators for Large-scale Monitoring and Assessment of Food Environments for Public Health.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Domain-Specific Quality of Life in Postmenopausal Women: Associations with Mobility and Mental Health.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Identifying ultra-processed foods for policy.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- The politics of processed foods: Consumer perceptions of policies targeting ultra-processed foods.PloS one · 2026Article
- Structural and Sensory Impacts of Black Garlic Particle-Based Fat Mimetics in Low-Fat Mayonnaise.International journal of food science · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Governments globally aim to reduce the intake of unhealthy foods. Many policies exist that aim to address foods high in saturated fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) but the identification of ultra-processed foods (UPF) have presented a greater challenge due to the lack of an appropriate policy definition. To support policymakers, we provide approaches that can support governments to identify both HFSS foods and UPFs. Methods: Four approaches combining elements of UPF definitions (i.e., presence of additives) and HFSS definitions were compared attempting to simplify and standardize the identification of less healthy products. Nationally representative food purchase data from NielsenIQ linked with nutrition facts label data were used to examine the mean proportion of product volume purchased by US households to be targeted. Differences between approaches were examined using Student Findings: In 2020, 50% of 33,054,687 products purchased by US households were considered UPFs (65% of foods and 38% of beverages) and 43% HFSS (65% of foods and 26% of beverages), however there was not 100% agreement between the two definitions (P < 0.0001). By starting with HFSS criteria and adding elements of UPF (colors and flavors), we were able to provide a method with 100% agreement between the identification of UPFs and HFSS products. Interpretation: Results demonstrated how combining HFSS criteria with UPF criteria can be used to identify less healthy foods and ensure policymakers have both a simple and accurate method to target products for policy intervention. Funding: Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Global Food Research Program of UNC-Chapel Hill provided funds.
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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.