Abstract

The association between the degree of processing and healthfulness of foods remains unclear. Most evidence of this relationship is based on dietary intake surveys rather than individual products and varies depending on the food processing classification system used. This study aimed to compare the nutritional quality of more- versus less-processed packaged foods and beverages in Canada, using a large, branded food database and two processing classification systems. Nutritional information for products (n = 17,269) was sourced from the University of Toronto FLIP 2017 database. Products were categorized using the NOVA and Poti et al. processing classification systems. Calories, sodium, saturated fat, total and free sugars, fibre and protein per 100 g (or mL) were examined by processing category using descriptive statistics and linear regression. Overall, the most-processed products under both systems were more likely to be lower in protein, and higher in total and free sugars, compared with less-processed foods (p < 0.05); the direction and strength of the association between other nutrients/components and level of processing were less consistent. These findings demonstrate that calorie- and nutrient-dense foods exist across different levels of processing, suggesting that food choices and dietary recommendations should be based primarily on energy or nutrient density rather than processing classification.

Highlights

  • Consistent with global trends, the Canadian food supply has become increasingly dominated by packaged, pre-prepared and highly processed food and beverage products [1,2,3]

  • This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the nutritional quality of packaged foods and beverages in relation to their extent of processing, drawing on a highly representative dataset of branded products in the Canadian food supply

  • We found the Poti et al system better distinguished between varying degrees of processing within several food categories, as evidenced by the distribution of these products across a greater number of processing classifications than under NOVA

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Summary

Introduction

Consistent with global trends, the Canadian food supply has become increasingly dominated by packaged, pre-prepared and highly processed food and beverage products [1,2,3]. Ultra-processed products are estimated to constitute approximately half of Canadians’ daily energy intakes, on average [3]. Studies of national dietary intake surveys using generic food composition databases have shown a relationship between ultra-processed food consumption and less healthy diets in Canada [3,11], the United States [12], Brazil [17,18], France [15] and the United Kingdom [19], among others. In Canada, greater dietary shares of ultra-processed products have been associated with higher intakes of calories, carbohydrates, free sugars, total and saturated fats, and lower intakes of Nutrients 2019, 11, 2782; doi:10.3390/nu11112782 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients

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