Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School & Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School & Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Am J Prev Med. 2023 Feb;64(2):213-220. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2022.08.021. Epub 2022 Oct 22.
Prepared (ready-to-eat) foods are sold in >90% of U.S. supermarkets, but little is known about their nutritional quality. This study examined trends in purchases of supermarket prepared foods and compared their nutritional profile with that of supermarket packaged foods and restaurant foods.
Nutrition data were obtained on prepared foods sold from 2015 to 2019 in 2 supermarket chains (∼1,200 stores). One chain (193 stores) provided transaction-level sales data from 2015 to 2017. Analyses (conducted in 2021-2022) examined trends in the number of different prepared foods offered by the chains and trends in purchases of calories, total sugar, saturated fat, and sodium from prepared foods. Calorie and nutrient densities (i.e., per 100 g of food) and prevalence of being high in calories or nutrients (on the basis of Chilean standards) were analyzed among supermarket prepared foods, supermarket packaged foods, and restaurant foods consumed in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2015-2018.
The number of different prepared foods offered at supermarket chains increased from 1,930 in 2015 to 4,113 in 2019. Calories per transaction purchased from supermarket prepared foods increased by 1.0 calories/month (95% CI=0.8, 1.1), a ∼3% annual increase, with similar trends for other nutrients. At supermarkets, >90% of prepared bakery and deli items and 61% of prepared entrees/sides were high in calories or another nutrient of concern, similar to supermarket packaged foods and restaurant foods.
Supply of and demand for supermarket prepared foods have grown substantially over time. These trends are concerning given these foods' overall poor nutritional quality.
在美国，超过 90%的超市都出售即食（准备好的）食品，但人们对这些食品的营养质量知之甚少。本研究调查了超市准备食品购买趋势，并将其营养状况与超市包装食品和餐厅食品进行了比较。
从 2015 年至 2019 年，在 2 家连锁超市（约 1200 家门店）购买了准备食品的营养数据。其中一家连锁超市（193 家门店）提供了 2015 年至 2017 年的交易级销售数据。分析（于 2021-2022 年进行）检查了这些连锁店提供的不同准备食品数量的趋势，以及从准备食品中购买卡路里、总糖、饱和脂肪和钠的趋势。分析了超市准备食品、超市包装食品和国家健康与营养调查 2015-2018 年餐厅食品的卡路里和营养素密度（即每 100 克食物）以及高卡路里或营养素的流行率（基于智利标准）。
连锁超市提供的不同准备食品数量从 2015 年的 1930 种增加到 2019 年的 4113 种。从超市准备食品购买的每份交易卡路里增加了 1.0 卡路里/月（95%CI=0.8, 1.1），即每年约 3%的增长，其他营养物质也有类似的趋势。在超市，超过 90%的准备面包店和熟食店产品以及 61%的准备主菜/配菜的卡路里或其他关注营养素含量较高，与超市包装食品和餐厅食品相似。
随着时间的推移，超市准备食品的供应和需求大幅增长。考虑到这些食品整体营养质量较差，这些趋势令人担忧。
