ReviewNature reviews. Endocrinology2025
The role of ultra-processed food in obesity.
Review in Nature reviews. Endocrinology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- Satiety responsiveness following dietary exposure to ultra-processed foods differing in texture-derived eating rate: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled crossover diet intervention.European journal of nutrition · 2026Trial
- Macronutrient mixtures and interactions in health and disease.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Ultra-processed Food Consumption After Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: Implications for Recurrent Weight Gain, Dietary Quality, and Nutritional Outcomes - A Narrative Review.Obesity surgery · 2026Review
- Enhanced Metabolic Risks in Patients with Obesity and Nutritional Deficiencies in the U.S.: A TriNetX Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Caloric content and industrial processing modulate the mental simulation of food concepts.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Article
- Ultra-Processed Food Dietary Patterns and Obesity: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of NHANES 2021-2023.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Weight Gains Across Adulthood-The ELSA-Brasil Study.Clinical obesity · 2026Article
- The Gut-brain-adipose Axis in Ultra-processed Food and Obesity: A Mechanistic Synthesis and Its Implications for Food Classification.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Article
- Integrating Policies that Enable Minimally Processed Foods with Policies that Restrict Ultra-Processed Foods for Obesity and Noncommunicable Disease Prevention.Current obesity reports · 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
- A call for methodological rigour: suspending systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies on ultra-processed foods.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Review
- Ultraprocessed Foods in the Global Food System: The Role of US Tobacco Companies.American journal of public health · 2026Article
- Unhealthy Food and Beverage Marketing on Public Transport Infrastructure in Western Melbourne.Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals · 2026Article
- Ultra-Processed Foods, MASLD, and Cognitive Aging: A Processing-Centered Gut-Liver-Brain Axis Perspective.Nutrients · 2026Review
- The Purpose of Food Processing and Ultra-Processed Food: the Potential, Pitfalls and Path Forward for Public Health.Current nutrition reports · 2026Review
- Ultra-processed foods and cardiometabolic risk: from evidence to policy.npj metabolic health and disease · 2026Article
- Article
- Quantifying the availability of hyper-palatable foods in US food stores and household purchasing behaviour.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The global increase in obesity has occurred in parallel to a dietary shift from traditional staple foods to ultra-processed foods (UPF), spurring scientific interest in UPF as a driver of the obesity pandemic. Herein, we summarize the current evidence regarding the role of UPF in obesity, with a specific focus on potential biological mechanisms. The literature strongly supports and corroborates ecological, epidemiological and mechanistic lines of research indicating that dietary patterns high in UPF promote overeating and increase the risk of overweight and obesity. Experimental evidence demonstrates that the soft texture, high energy density and hyperpalatable nutrient combinations of UPF facilitate excessive energy intakes by affecting ingestive behaviours, satiety signalling and food reward systems. Although not fully elucidated, it is plausible that several other UPF attributes (such as emulsifiers, non-nutritive sweeteners, acellular nutrients, and contaminants from processing and packaging materials) contribute to their obesogenic effects through a myriad of physiological pathways, including altered absorption kinetics, glycaemic response and the gut microbiota composition and function. To stem the global rise in obesity, multipronged policy efforts are needed to reduce UPF consumption and create health-promoting food systems.
Indexed as
Identifiers
40659796What OpenQuestion holds
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.