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Are Food Processing and Convenience Linked with the Nutritional Quality of Foods Purchased by US Households?
Author(s) -
Poti Jennifer,
Mendez Michelle,
Ng Shu Wen,
Popkin Barry
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.587.9
Subject(s) - calorie , food processing , food science , low calorie , nutrient , convenience food , business , nutrition facts label , per capita , environmental health , agricultural science , environmental science , medicine , biology , ecology , population , endocrinology
Processed foods' contribution to US diet and nutrient content have not been accurately assessed. Our objective was to develop a multi‐dimensional classification system for food processing, determine nationally representative trends in processed and convenience food purchasing, and compare nutrient profiles of less vs more processed foods. We analyzed food and beverage purchases of 157,142 households from the 2000‐2012 Homescan longitudinal panel. We classified each of 1.2 million items by level of processing and separately by convenience using barcode‐specific details and ingredients. We used quantile and logistic regression to compare nutrient content and adherence to nutrient recommendations. Over 3/4 of calories purchased by US households came from processed (15.9%) and ultra‐processed (61.0%) foods and beverages in 2012 (939 kcal/d per capita). By convenience, ready‐to‐eat (68.1%) and ready‐to‐heat (15.2%) products supplied the majority of calories, with a significant upward trend in ready‐to‐heat foods between 2000 and 2012. The adjusted proportion of household‐level food purchases exceeding recommended maximums for saturated fat, sugar, and sodium densities simultaneously was significantly higher for ultra‐processed (60.4%) and ready‐to‐eat (27.1%) food purchases compared to purchases of less‐processed foods (5.6%) or foods requiring cooking (4.9%). The unshifting dominance of ultra‐processed and ready‐to‐eat foods as major calorie contributors to US diet and their poor nutrient profile support the need to incentivize food manufacturers to improve the nutritional quality of their products. Funding source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (67506, 68793, 70017, 71837), NIH (R01DK098072), CPC 5 R24 HD050924