ReviewObesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity2025
Using a systems thinking approach to map the global rise of ultra-processed foods in population diets.
Review in Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 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
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- How Does the Ultra-Processed Food Industry Drive Consumption Through Product Design and Marketing? Mapping a Complex Commercial System According to Expert Mental Models and Evidence Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Review
- 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
- Systems Science in Nutrition and Dietetics Research: A Practical Lens for Applying Systems Approaches in Research.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2026Review
- Principles for guiding and unlocking transformation of the European Union agrifood system.Nature food · 2026Review
- Shrinking appetites: Will GLP-1 adoption in high-income countries accelerate Big Food's push into low- and middle-income countries?Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Reviewing ecosystems of evidence: synthesising the evidence on the commercial determinants of health from a complex systems perspective.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- Trends in Ultraprocessed Food Consumption Among Korean Children and Adolescents, 2007 to 2024.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Ultra processed foods and their inputs increasingly dominate New Zealand's food and beverage imports: a retrospective analysis.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Food packaging: identifying the socio-economic drivers and reduction opportunities through system dynamics modelling.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Beyond diet and health: scoping umbrella review of the wider impact and influence of ultra-processed foods.BMC public health · 2026Article
- From scarcity to ultra-processed foods: a conceptual analysis of how their properties interact with characteristics of food intake regulation mechanism.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Association between ultra-processed foods intake and frailty risk in community-dwelling older adults.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Food industry degrowth as a public health strategy: the case of ultra processed baked goods.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- The Genetic Blueprint of Obesity: From Pathogenesis to Novel Therapies.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Review
- Proposed best-practice nutrition-related corporate reporting metrics for Australian food manufacturers, quick-service restaurants and retailers.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Ultra-Processed Foods in the Food Supply: Prevalence, Nutritional Composition and Use of Voluntary Labelling Schemes.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Using a systems thinking approach to map the global rise of ultra-processed foods in population diets.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Review
- Betaine alleviates obesity-related metabolic disorders in rats: insights from microbiomes, lipidomics, and transcriptomics.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- A Comparative Study on the Consumption Patterns of Processed Food Among Individuals With and Without Type 2 Diabetes.International journal of public health · 2025Article
- Demystifying Commercial Influences on Health: Applying Systems Dynamics Methodologies to Policy Processes Comment on "Using System Dynamics to Understand Transnational Corporate Power in Diet-Related Non-communicable Disease Prevention Policy-Making: A Case Study of South Africa".International journal of health policy and management · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A key driver of obesity and diet-related illness globally has been the increased consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). This paper aimed to identify the key actors, structures, incentives, and dynamics that characterize the global UPF system and have led to the dominance of UPFs in population diets. Based on a narrative review and using a systems thinking approach, we developed a causal loop diagram (CLD) of the global UPF system. The CLD comprises nine reinforcing loops: the commodification of diets; increasing market concentration; increasing UPF levels in food retail environments; the financialization of diets; direct corporate political influence; increasing capture of science, public opinion, and policy narratives; shifts from private to public food governance; state accommodation of corporate power; and an "agricultural regime" promoting the production of relatively cheap UPF inputs. The CLD also contains two balancing loops relating to market saturation and public health policies that curb UPF consumption and a countervailing reinforcing loop depicting other forms of food systems in tension with the UPF system. This study suggests the need for innovative and expansive government policies to protect and promote healthy, sustainable diets and coordinated advocacy efforts among those seeking to challenge the exploitative aspects of corporate food systems.
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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.