Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of obesity: a prospective cohort study of UK Biobank
Rauber F, Chang K, Vamos EP, da Costa Louzada ML, Monteiro CA, Millett C, Levy RB
European journal of nutrition · 192 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cohort study (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
- Intake measured by
- Food diaries or recalls
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- University or hospital
- Imperial College London
- Government
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
- Government
- Medical Research Council
- Grants
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2018/26660-0); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (15/14900-9); Medical Research Council (MC_PC_17228); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2016/14302-7); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2018/19820-1)
Based on 3 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2020-10-18 · Eur J Nutr · vol. 60 · issue 4 · pp. 2169–2180
- Publisher
- Springer Science+Business Media
- Cited
- 307 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 27.9× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 48 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling · Health, Technology, Consumer Behavior · Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
- Keywords
- Medicine, Waist, Body mass index, Obesity, Hazard ratio, Quartile, Abdominal obesity, Proportional hazards model, Prospective cohort study, Cohort, Cohort study, Environmental health, Demography, Internal medicine, Confidence interval
- MeSH
- humans, obesity, body mass index, diet, prospective studies, adult, biological specimen banks, female, male, fast foods, united kingdom
7 authors
From BR, GB
- Fernanda Rauber · correspondingUniversidade de São Paulo; Public Health England; Imperial College London
- Kiara ChangImperial College London
- Eszter Panna VamosImperial College London
- Maria Laura da Costa LouzadaUniversidade de São Paulo
- Carlos Augusto MonteiroUniversidade de São Paulo
- Christopher J. MillettUniversidade de São Paulo; Imperial College London
Abstract
Objective
The objective of this study was to examine the associations between ultra-processed food consumption and risk of obesity among UK adults.
Methods
Participants aged 40-69 years at recruitment in the UK Biobank (2006-2019) with dietary intakes collected using 24-h recall and repeated measures of adiposity--body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and percentage of body fat (% BF)--were included (N = 22,659; median follow-up: 5 years). Ultra-processed foods were identified using the NOVA classification and their consumption was expressed as a percentage of total energy intake. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) of several indicators of obesity according to ultra-processed food consumption. Models were adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics.
Results
947 incident cases of overall obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and 1900 incident cases of abdominal obesity (men: WC ≥ 102 cm, women: WC ≥ 88 cm) were identified during follow-up. Participants in the highest quartile of ultra-processed food consumption had significantly higher risk of developing overall obesity (HR 1.79; 95% CI 1.06─3.03) and abdominal obesity (HR 1.30; 95% CI 1.14─1.48). They had higher risk of experiencing a ≥ 5% increase in BMI (HR 1.31; 95% CI 1.20─1.43), WC (HR 1.35; 95% CI 1.25─1.45) and %BF (HR 1.14; 95% CI 1.03─1.25), than those in the lowest quartile of consumption.
Conclusions
Our findings provide evidence that higher consumption of ultra-processed food is strongly associated with a higher risk of multiple indicators of obesity in the UK adult population. Policy makers should consider actions that promote consumption of fresh or minimally processed foods and reduce consumption of ultra-processed foods.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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