Association between overweight and consumption of ultra-processed food and sugar-sweetened beverages among vegetarians

Abstract

ResultsInformation was retrieved from 503 individuals (29.8±8.5 years old); 83.7% were women. The most frequent types of vegetarianism in our sample were ovo-lacto (45.5%) and vegan (41.7%), and the median time of vegetarianism was 5.3 years. The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (≥2x/day) and ultra-processed food (≥3x/day) was 21.0% and 16.0%, respectively, and regarding the different vegetarianism types, vegans showed the lowest frequency of excessive daily sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed food consumption. In the multivariable analysis, consumption of ultra-processed food ≥3x/day (2.33 [1. 36-4.03 ConclusionAlthough vegetarianism is frequently associated with a healthier diet and, consequently, prevention of poor health outcomes, this study found that the excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed food was associated with overweight.

Food processing and cardiometabolic risk factors: a systematic review

“…We described the characteristics and methodological quality of the publications included in this review in Table 2. Most studies (six) [18][19][20][21][22][23] were conducted in high-income countries, while five publications [24][25][26][27][28] were held in developing countries contributed, three of which carried out in Brazil 24,25,27 . As for the design, more than 80% were cross-sectional.…”

“…According to the Strobe criteria, it is possible to consider that the methodological quality of the analyzed articles was satisfactory, with an overall average of 17.5 points (minimum score: 13 24 ; maximum score: 21 27 ) and none were classified with quality C. Six studies 18,19,21,23,26,27 were considered of quality A and five 20,22,24,25,28 of quality B ( Table 2).…”

“…The cardiometabolic risk factors identified were overweight or obesity (eight articles 18,19,[22][23][24][25]27,28 ) and arterial hypertension (one article 21 ). We included two studies 20,26 that evaluated metabolic syndrome and its components because this condition is characterized by the simultaneous presence of outcomes of interest in this review 29 .…”

“…We identified four different methods for assessing exposure in this work, the most frequent being the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) 21,22,24,26,27 and the 24-hour recall 19,20,23,28 , used in five and four publications, respectively. Research was also identified that evaluated exposure through the food diary 18 and food record 25 .…”

“…Research was also identified that evaluated exposure through the food diary 18 and food record 25 . The Nova classification was present in nine studies to define food according to processing [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]27 . Another article was based on Nova to determine the food groups, then carrying out an exploratory factor analysis, which identified two dietary patterns: "minimally processed/processed food pattern" and "ultra-processed food pattern" 26 .…”