Minimally processed and ultra-processed food daily consumption on the transition of nutritional status to obesity: a cross-sectional study

Abstract BackgroundThe role of food type consumption on nutritional status (NS) transition from overweight (OW) to obesity (OB), represents a higher risk in the development of chronic diseases, morbidity, premature mortality, and health services burden compared to normal weight to OW. In this sense, minimally and ultra-processed foods can impact on NS transition. However, the influence of quantity consumption has not yet been investigated. We aimed to investigate the magnitude of the impact of ultra-processed food and minimally processed food consumption in the change of NS from OW to OB.MethodsWe included 15.024 participants (9.618 OW [body mass index 25.0-29.9kg/m2], 5.406 OB [body mass index ≥30kg/m2]) with age ranging from 18 to 59 years-old from the 2019 baseline survey of the Surveillance of Risk Factors and Protection for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey (VIGITEL). Minimally processed and ultra-processed food daily consumption and other confounding variables (age, sex, scholarity, physical activity, hypertension, and diabetes) were measured. Binary logistic regression analyzes the magnitude of the impact of ultra-processed food and minimally processed food consumption in the change of OW to OB. The odds ratio (OR) of transition (OW to OB) was calculated.ResultsIn general, minimally processed food (1st=1[food/day]; 2nd=6[food/day]; 3rd=7[food/day]; 4th=8[food/day]) presented higher quartile values compared to ultra-processed food (1st=1[food/day]; 2nd=1[food/day]; 3rd=2[food/day]; 4th=4[food/day]). For each minimally processed food consumed, there was a -5.9% chance of NS transition to OB. In this sense, the higher quartile (4th) of minimally processed food consumption represents less chance of the NS transition to OB (OR: -47.2%; p<0.001). On the other hand, each ultra-processed food consumed presented a chance of 3.7% of NS transition to OB. Therefore, higher consumption of ultra-processed food (4th quartile) shows higher chance of the NS transition to OB (OR: +14.8%; p<0.001).ConclusionThe consumption of ultra-processed and minimally processed foods presented a magnitude to change the NS (from OW to OB), even when controlled by sociodemographic factors, physical activity, hypertension, and diabetes. Therefore, our findings can help to guide the population about the magnitude of the effects that the consumption of different types of foods can modify their health.