Article type
Abstract
"Background: A high dietary intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes, which have a significant impact on the global burden of disease.
Objective: The aim of this umbrella review is to fill the knowledge gap and provide the guides to public health practices.
Methods: We search systematic reviews (SRs) with meta-analyses (MAs) comparing high UPFs versus low UPFs consumption on multiple health outcomes in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and CBM databases from inception to 11 December 2022. The A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2) tool was used to evaluate the quality of the included SRs, and the results were visualized using the evidence mapping method. Python 3.11, R 4.2.2, and Excel 2016 were used for statistical analysis.
Results: Fourteen eligible SRs with MAs were identified, which published in 10 journals from 2020 to 2023, with the number of participates and studies ranging from 54,147 to 5,750,133, and from 5 to 61, respectively. The overall corrected covered area (CCA) indicated the degree of overlap of primary studies across SRs was a slight overlap (Figure 1). Compared to low UPFs consumption, high consumption is associated with multiple health outcomes (e.g., obesity, diabetes, hypertension, mortality). However, included participants mostly were adults, and the classification of UPFs was relatively inconsistent. Only two SRs were “Moderate” in terms of the overall methodological quality, while the other twelve were “Low” or “Critically low” (Figure 2).
Conclusion: Increased UPFs consumption was associated with multiple health outcomes. However, well-conducted SRs with high-quality prospective cohort studies are needed to further verify these findings.
Funding statement: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under [Grant number: 72074103] and the Major Program of the National Science Found of China “Research on the Theoretical System, International Experience and Chinese Path of Evidence-based Social Science” under [Grant number 19ZDA142]."
Objective: The aim of this umbrella review is to fill the knowledge gap and provide the guides to public health practices.
Methods: We search systematic reviews (SRs) with meta-analyses (MAs) comparing high UPFs versus low UPFs consumption on multiple health outcomes in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and CBM databases from inception to 11 December 2022. The A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2) tool was used to evaluate the quality of the included SRs, and the results were visualized using the evidence mapping method. Python 3.11, R 4.2.2, and Excel 2016 were used for statistical analysis.
Results: Fourteen eligible SRs with MAs were identified, which published in 10 journals from 2020 to 2023, with the number of participates and studies ranging from 54,147 to 5,750,133, and from 5 to 61, respectively. The overall corrected covered area (CCA) indicated the degree of overlap of primary studies across SRs was a slight overlap (Figure 1). Compared to low UPFs consumption, high consumption is associated with multiple health outcomes (e.g., obesity, diabetes, hypertension, mortality). However, included participants mostly were adults, and the classification of UPFs was relatively inconsistent. Only two SRs were “Moderate” in terms of the overall methodological quality, while the other twelve were “Low” or “Critically low” (Figure 2).
Conclusion: Increased UPFs consumption was associated with multiple health outcomes. However, well-conducted SRs with high-quality prospective cohort studies are needed to further verify these findings.
Funding statement: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under [Grant number: 72074103] and the Major Program of the National Science Found of China “Research on the Theoretical System, International Experience and Chinese Path of Evidence-based Social Science” under [Grant number 19ZDA142]."