The Intersection of Diet Quality and Ultraprocessed Food Intake: Using Evidence-Based Categories to Characterize Differences in Cardiometabolic Profiles.
Objectives. To examine how ultraprocessed food (UPF) consumption and diet quality jointly relate to cardiometabolic health. Methods. This serial cross-sectional study used data from 15 760 US adults (aged ≥ 20 years) in the 2009–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Participants co...
| Publicado en: | American Journal of Public Health Vol. 116; no. 7; pp. 993 - 1004 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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American Public Health Association
Jul2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=194643731&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 194643731 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00900036 APH jtl: American Journal of Public Health issn: 00900036 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 116 iid: 7 pid: 44 pub: American Public Health Association artinfo: ui: 194643731 10.2105/AJPH.2026.308494 ppf: 993 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: The Intersection of Diet Quality and Ultraprocessed Food Intake: Using Evidence-Based Categories to Characterize Differences in Cardiometabolic Profiles. aug: au: Sheinberg, Elise Schmidt, Laura A. Mande, Jerold R. Martinez-Steele, Euridice Tobias, Deirdre K. Leung, Cindy W. affil: Department of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts. Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of California San Francisco, California Nourish Science, Boston, Massachusetts Department of Nutrition and Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Department of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts su: United States Cross-sectional method Food consumption Food habits Fasting Food quality Packaged foods Cardiovascular diseases Research funding Body mass index Multiple regression analysis Nutritional assessment Questionnaires Descriptive statistics Chi-squared test Blood sugar Metabolic syndrome sug: subj: Cross-sectional method Food consumption Food habits Fasting United States Packaged Frozen Food Merchant Wholesalers Food quality Packaged foods Cardiovascular diseases Research funding Body mass index Multiple regression analysis Nutritional assessment Questionnaires Descriptive statistics Chi-squared test Blood sugar Metabolic syndrome ab: Objectives. To examine how ultraprocessed food (UPF) consumption and diet quality jointly relate to cardiometabolic health. Methods. This serial cross-sectional study used data from 15 760 US adults (aged ≥ 20 years) in the 2009–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Participants completed two 24-hour recalls and did not have a chronic disease. Diet quality was categorized using Healthy Eating Index–2020 (HEI) scores as high (70 to 100), moderate (60 to < 70), low (50 to < 60), and very low (0 to < 50). UPF consumption, determined by Nova classification, was categorized as high (≥ 40% energy intake) and low (< 40% energy intake). Joint HEI–UPF categories combined these variables. We examined unadjusted and adjusted associations between joint HEI–UPF category and anthropometric and cardiometabolic biomarkers. Results. Among US adults, only 0.3% had high HEI–low UPF consumption, while 45.3% had very low HEI–high UPF consumption. Those with very low HEI–high UPF intake had the least favorable metabolic profiles, including the highest mean body mass index (29.6, defined as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) and fasting glucose (106.2 milligrams per deciliter). Conclusions. Diet quality was more consistently associated with cardiometabolic health than UPF intake. Public Health Implications. Overall diet quality is a strong predictor of cardiometabolic health, even with varying UPF consumption. (Am J Public Health. 2026;116(7):993–1003. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308494) pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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