Gibney Michael J
Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Curr Dev Nutr. 2018 Sep 14;3(2):nzy077. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzy077. eCollection 2019 Feb.
Four categories of foods are proposed in the NOVA food classification, which seeks to relate food processing as the primary driver of diet quality. Of these, the category "ultra-processed foods" has been widely studied in relation both to diet quality and to risk factors for noncommunicable disease. The present paper explores the definition of ultra-processed foods since its inception and clearly shows that the definition of such foods has varied considerably. Because of the difficulty of interpretation of the primary definition, the NOVA group and others have set out lists of examples of foods that fall under the category of ultra-processed foods. The present manuscript demonstrates that since the inception of the NOVA classification of foods, these examples of foods to which this category applies have varied considerably. Thus, there is little consistency either in the definition of ultra-processed foods or in examples of foods within this category. The public health nutrition advice of NOVA is that ultra-processed foods should be avoided to achieve improvements in nutrient intakes with an emphasis on fat, sugar, and salt. The present manuscript demonstrates that the published data for the United States, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, and Canada all show that across quintiles of intake of ultra-processed foods, nutritionally meaningful changes are seen for sugars and fiber but not for total fat, saturated fat, and sodium. Moreover, 2 national surveys in the United Kingdom and France fail to show any link between body mass index and consumption of ultra-processed foods. The paper concludes that constructive scholarly debate needs to be facilitated on many issues that would be affected by a policy to avoid ultra-processed foods.
“新食物分类法”提出了四类食物，该分类法旨在将食品加工视为饮食质量的主要驱动因素。其中，“超加工食品”类别在饮食质量和非传染性疾病风险因素方面都得到了广泛研究。本文探讨了超加工食品自诞生以来的定义，并清楚地表明这类食品的定义有很大差异。由于对主要定义的解释存在困难，“新食物分类法”小组及其他机构列出了属于超加工食品类别的食物示例清单。本论文表明，自“新食物分类法”诞生以来，这类食品适用的示例有很大变化。因此，超加工食品的定义及其类别中的食物示例都几乎没有一致性。“新食物分类法”的公共卫生营养建议是，应避免食用超加工食品，以改善营养摄入情况，重点关注脂肪、糖和盐。本论文表明，美国、英国、法国、巴西和加拿大公布的数据均显示，在超加工食品摄入量的五个五分位数中，糖和纤维有营养意义上的显著变化，但总脂肪、饱和脂肪和钠没有。此外，英国和法国的两项全国性调查未能显示体重指数与超加工食品消费之间存在任何关联。论文得出结论，需要推动关于许多受避免食用超加工食品政策影响的问题展开建设性的学术辩论。
