Comparative Analysis of the Classification of Food Products in the Mexican Market According to Seven Different Nutrient Profiling Systems.

Alejandra Contreras-Manzano,Anabel Velasco-Bernal,Jorge Vargas-Meza,Simón Barquera,Lizbeth Tolentino-Mayo,Juan Rivera,Alejandra Jáuregui

doi:10.3390/nu10060737

Alejandra Contreras-Manzano, Anabel Velasco-Bernal + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10060737

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Journal: Nutrients	Publication Date: Jun 7, 2018
Citations: 24	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública

Abstract

Nutrient profiling systems (NPS) are used around the world. In some countries, the food industry participates in the design of these systems. We aimed to compare the ability of various NPS to identify processed and ultra-processed Mexican products containing excessive amounts of critical nutrients. A sample of 2544 foods and beverages available in the Mexican market were classified as compliant and non-compliant according to seven NPS: the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) model, which served as our reference, the Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion (NPSC), the Mexican Committee of Nutrition Experts (MCNE), the Health Star Rating (HSR), the Mexican Nutritional Seal (MNS), the Chilean Warning Octagons (CWO) 2016, 2018 and 2019 criteria, and Ecuador’s Multiple Traffic Light (MTL). Overall, the proportion of foods classified as compliant by the HSR, MTL and MCNE models was similar to the PAHO model. In contrast, the NPSC, the MNS and the CWO-2016 classified a higher amount of foods as compliant. Larger differences between NPS classification were observed across food categories. Results support the notion that models developed with the involvement of food manufacturers are more permissive than those based on scientific evidence. Results highlight the importance of thoroughly evaluating the underlying criteria of a model.

Highlights

Worldwide, obesity and chronic disease rates have increased alarmingly in the past 20 years [1].The combined prevalence of overweight and obesity in Mexican adults was 72.5% in 2016 [2], leading the second place in obesity globally
Processed and ultra-processed food products were defined according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) model as “food products manufactured by industry in which salt, sugar, or other culinary ingredients have been added to unprocessed or minimally processed foods to preserve them or make them more palatable” [11]
Our study showed that the ability of Nutrient profiling systems (NPS) to identify Mexican processed and ultra-processed products containing excessive amounts of critical nutrients varies greatly

Summary

Introduction

Obesity and chronic disease rates have increased alarmingly in the past 20 years [1].The combined prevalence of overweight and obesity in Mexican adults was 72.5% in 2016 [2], leading the second place in obesity globally. Has focused on helping governments enable public policies aiming to improve food environments by reducing the availability and affordability of unhealthy foods [5,6,7,8,9]. In this context, Mexico has implemented regulations on advertising, including voluntary (i.e., the Mexican Nutritional Seal) and mandatory (i.e., Guideline Daily Allowances) front-of-package labeling, and fiscal policies on sugar sweetened beverages as part of a government led national strategy for the prevention and control of overweight, obesity, and diabetes [10]. The nutritional criteria used by these strategies are of concern since some of the existing criteria may not be helpful in identifying processed and Nutrients 2018, 10, 737; doi:10.3390/nu10060737 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients

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