An exploratory analysis of the relationship between ultraprocessed food consumption, alcohol intake, body composition, and cardiometabolic markers in individuals with alcohol use disorder
Barb JJ, King LC, Yang S, Turner S, Vizioli C, Tyler RE, Chen KY, Farokhnia M, Wallen GR, Leggio L
Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Cross-sectional study (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
- Intake measured by
- Food diaries or recalls
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Nonprofit
- Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
- Government
- National Institutes of Health
- Government
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
- Government
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Government
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences
- Government
- NIH Clinical Center
- Government
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
- Government
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the Center on Compulsive Behavior Fellowship
- Government
- NIGMS NIH HHS
- Nonprofit
- Peter G. Dodge Foundation
- Grants
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (FI2 GM154714); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (ZIA-DA000635); National Institute of General Medical Sciences (1FI2GM154714-01); National Institutes of Health (ZIA DA000635); National Institute on Drug Abuse (ZIA-DA000635)
Based on 10 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2025-08-13 · Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken) · vol. 49 · issue 10 · pp. 2184–2198
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Cited
- 3 citations · more than 90% of similar papers · 2.7× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 60 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling · Nutritional Studies and Diet · Diet, Metabolism, and Disease
- Keywords
- Alcohol, Alcohol consumption, Composition (language), Alcohol intake, Environmental health, Alcohol use disorder, Food science, Consumption (sociology), Medicine, Chemistry, Biochemistry
- MeSH
- humans, alcoholism, feeding behavior, alcohol drinking, body composition, eating, adult, middle aged, female, male, biomarkers
10 authors
From US
- Jennifer J. BarbNational Institutes of Health Clinical Center
- Lillian C. KingNational Institutes of Health Clinical Center
- Shanna B. YangNational Institutes of Health Clinical Center
- Sara TurnerNational Institutes of Health Clinical Center
- Carlotta VizioliNational Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
- Ryan E. TylerNational Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Abstract
Background
Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) are often high in salt, fat, and sugar and low in fiber and nutrients. Research has suggested that UPFs are associated with all-cause mortality and have recently been proposed to align with properties of addictive substances. While research suggests that people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) have poor dietary habits in general, little is known about whether these people consume more UPFs than those without AUD. In an exploratory analysis, we examined how UPFs, diet quality, and added sugars consumption would be associated with other health outcomes in newly abstinent and currently drinking people with AUD and compared those to healthy individuals.
Methods
Participants were individuals with AUD who were newly abstinent or currently drinking, and healthy controls. Two weeks of food intake records in an outpatient setting were assessed for UPF, diet quality, and added sugars, and were compared between the three groups. Correlations were assessed across diet and alcohol measures, body composition, resting energy expenditure, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk scores within each group.
Results
All groups consumed similar poor quality diets with >55% usual foods from UPFs and >8% of energy intake from added sugars. Within groups, only the newly abstinent individuals showed associations between ASCVD risk and alcohol use history along with diet quality and body composition.
Conclusions
Despite the lack of statistically significant differences in diet quality measures between groups, nutrition support for healthier food choices in people with AUD, especially during alcohol recovery, should be carefully investigated.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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