The Intersection of Diet Quality and Ultraprocessed Food Intake: Using Evidence-Based Categories to Characterize Differences in Cardiometabolic Profiles
Sheinberg E, Schmidt LA, Mande JR, Martinez-Steele E, Tobias DK, Leung CW
American journal of public health · 1 citation
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 (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
- Intake measured by
- Not stated
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2026-07-01 · Am J Public Health · vol. 116 · issue 7 · pp. 993–1003
- Publisher
- National Institutes of Health
- Cited
- 0 citations · more than 48% of similar papers · 0.0× the field average
- References
- 0 works
- Access
- Open access (repository copy)
- Research areas
- Nutritional Studies and Diet · Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling · Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
- Keywords
- Intersection (aeronautics), Quality (philosophy), Food quality, Food consumption, Population
- MeSH
- humans, body mass index, diet, nutrition surveys, cross-sectional studies, energy intake, adult, middle aged, united states, female, male, diet, healthy, cardiometabolic risk factors, food, processed
6 authors
From US
- Elise SheinbergPhilip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
- Laura A SchmidtPhilip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
- Jerold R. MandePhilip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
- Euridice Martinez-SteelePhilip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
- Deirdre K TobiasPhilip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
- Cindy W. LeungPhilip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
Abstract
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 ≥ 40% energy intake) and low (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).
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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