UPFs and overeating summary
- Ultra-processed foods are often associated with overeating
- A recent study explores why consumers overeat
- The biggest factor is a food’s nutritional content, with the presence of energy density being a key factor
- Consumer perception is also significant, with foods perceived as healthy less likely to be overeaten
- A food’s UPF status under the Nova classification, however, has a minimal impact on overeating
One of the key controversies around ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is their alleged hyperpalatability – in other words, how easy and pleasurable they are to eat.
This, according to the argument, means that consumers find UPFs difficult to stop eating, potentially even leading to addiction.
A new study challenges this perception, suggesting that a food’s UPF status – specifically, having a ‘four’ score on the Nova classification – has little effect on whether a consumer will overeat said food.
What is the Nova classification?
The Nova classification is the most commonly used method of designating the processing level of a food.
There are four levels of processing: minimally processed foods, processed ingredients, processed foods and ultra-processed foods, the highest score.
Ultra-processed foods are designated by Nova as those made partly or entirely from processed food fractions, requiring little to no cooking, and containing a lot of additives. Examples include pizza, ice cream, doughnuts, and sliced, packaged bread.
Finding out why consumers overeat
Why do consumers overeat? That was one of the key questions that the study set out to ask.
To explore this question, the study presented participants with images of 436 different foods and asked them to rate each food by how much they liked it, and whether they believed they would eat too much of it.
The concept of “hedonic overeating” was used in the study, which means to eat beyond the point of satiety due to enjoyment of a food’s taste or texture.
The researchers then looked at which was the best predictor of hedonic overeating: its UPF status, its carbohydrate to fat ratio, its nutritional content, and how participants perceived the food in question in terms of both nutrition and taste.
Also read → Are ultra-processed foods addictive?
Effect of nutrition on overeating
Hedonic overeating was explained by a variety of factors. However, the nutritional content and perception of foods accounted for the majority of these things.
In terms of nutrition, the most prominent predictor of overeating was energy density. Energy density has long been shown to be a key component of overeating, reliably activating reward regions in the brain.
On the flip side, high fibre foods were negatively linked to overeating. The study predicts that this may be because fibre increases dietary bulk and can increase satiety.
Nutritional content explained around 40-57% of variance in overeating, the most prominent out of any predictor.
In terms of perception, several factors affected whether people perceived these foods as linked to hedonic overeating. Perceived taste had an enormous effect on whether participants linked them with overeating, with foods perceived as sweet linked to it the most. Foods with a higher fat content were perceived as linked more to overeating.
Furthermore, the less healthy a food was perceived to be, the less it was associated with hedonic overeating.
The perception of the foods in question explained around 17-38% of the variance in hedonic overeating.
UPF has little effect on overeating
While food’s status as a UPF according to the Nova classification was relevant, it was a minimal factor compared with others.
It accounted for between 2% and 7% of the relationship between a food and hedonic overeating, meaning little in comparison to those of perception and nutritional content.
In the past, the Nova classification has come under fire due to its lack of focus on the nutritional composition of a food.
While many of the components of foods associated with overeating here are common in UPFs, they are not an essential part of what makes a food a UPF, as the Nova classification does not focus on nutrients.