Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy.
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy.
Nutrients. 2022 May 15;14(10):2073. doi: 10.3390/nu14102073.
Information on the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in relation to an adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) is limited. Our aim was to assess UPF consumption in a group of Italian adults and to evaluate the relationship with the MD adherence. A total of 670 participants (median age: 30 years) were included in the analysis. The consumption of UPF was assessed through the NOVA Food Frequency Questionnaire (NFFQ). Adherence to the MD was assessed through the Medi-Lite score. The percentage of UPF in the diet was 16.4% corresponding to 299 g of UPF per day. These amounts were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in men than in women and came mainly from ready-to-eat meals or pre-packaged bread, bread alternatives, pizza, frozen potato chips (24.5% of total UPF intake), pre-packaged biscuits and sweets (20.7%), soft drinks (15.8%), and dairy products such as flavored yogurt (12%). As to the MD adherence, a significant inverse association between the Medi-Lite score and the percentage of UPF in the diet (R = −0.35; p < 0.001) was observed. Participants with a low adherence to the MD had a significantly higher contribution of UPF in the diet (22.2%) compared to those with a moderate (16.2%) and high (12.6%) adherence. In terms of individual UPF, the largest difference between low and high MD adherents was observed for pre-packaged biscuits and sweets, soft and energy drinks, sausages and other reconstituted meat products, and pre-packaged bread and bread alternatives. These results suggest that public health strategies are needed to implement more effective actions to promote healthy eating habits in the population.
关于超加工食品（UPF）的消费与地中海饮食（MD）依从性的信息有限。我们的目的是评估一组意大利成年人的 UPF 消费情况，并评估其与 MD 依从性的关系。共有 670 名参与者（中位数年龄：30 岁）被纳入分析。UPF 的消费通过 NOVA 食物频率问卷（NFFQ）进行评估。MD 的依从性通过 Medi-Lite 评分进行评估。饮食中超加工食品的比例为 16.4%，相当于每天 299 克 UPF。这些数量在男性中明显高于女性（p<0.05），主要来自即食餐或预包装面包、面包替代品、比萨饼、冷冻薯片（总 UPF 摄入量的 24.5%）、预包装饼干和糖果（20.7%）、软饮料（15.8%）和调味酸奶等乳制品（12%）。至于 MD 的依从性，观察到 Medi-Lite 评分与饮食中超加工食品的比例之间存在显著的负相关（R=-0.35；p<0.001）。MD 依从性低的参与者饮食中超加工食品的比例明显更高（22.2%），而中等（16.2%）和高（12.6%）依从性的参与者则较低。就个别 UPF 而言，MD 低依从者与高依从者之间差异最大的是预包装饼干和糖果、软饮料和能量饮料、香肠和其他重组肉类产品以及预包装面包和面包替代品。这些结果表明，需要采取公共卫生策略来实施更有效的行动，以促进人群的健康饮食习惯。
