About this project

There is global convincing evidence that greater exposure to ultra-processed foods is associated with a higher risk of adverse health outcomes, especially cardiometabolic, mental disorders, and mortality outcomes. These findings reinforce that public health measures are needed to target and reduce the dietary exposure to these foods in order to improve human health (1).

The first five years of life represent a relevant window of opportunity to promote healthy dietary habits which if established in this period can help setting the foundation of future health and wellbeing. In Aotearoa New Zealand, very  little is know about the intake of ultra processed foods by children and its main determinants.

This project aims to: i) assess the intake of ultra-processed foods and drinks (UPFD) at 24 and 54 months, ii) describe their association with whole diet quality at these time points and, iii) examine the maternal sociodemographic and health behaviour characteristics associated with the intake of these foods.

This study will use data from 3 data collection waves: antenatal, 24 and 54 months. Maternal sociodemographic and health behaviour variables will be sourced from the antenatal, 24, and 54-month maternal interviews. Information on children`s  dietary intakes  will be obtained from the FFQs applied at the 24 and 54-month maternal-child proxy interviews.

The study will use the NOVA food classification system (2) to identify the UPFDs from the food frequency questionnaires administered at 24 and 54 months. Children`s daily intake of servings of UPFDs will be quantified and described.  Then, the children will be ranked in quartiles of intakes of UPFDs at 24 and 54 months to: i)  describe their mean scores in the dietary patterns previously identified at 24 and 54 months (3) and; ii) examine the associations between levels of intakes of UPFDs and maternal sociodemographic and health behaviours.

Associations between children`s quartiles of UPF intakes and maternal variables will be examined using multivariate multinomial regression models, adopting the children ranked in the first quartile of intake of UPFDs as the category of reference.

This project will provide valuable and nationally generalisable proxy information on the prevalence of UPFD consumption among New Zealand pre-schoolers to guide health, food and nutrition policies aiming to reduce children`s intakes of ultraprocessed foods and increase intakes of minimally processed foods. Findings will be disseminated as a research paper and in media channels upon publication of the paper.

References:

1. Lane M et al (2024). BMJ: doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-077310

2. Monteiro CA et al (2019). Ultra-processed foods, diet quality and human health. Rome, FAO.

3. Gontijo de Castro T (2023). Sci Rep 13, 22754 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49986-2

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Project start date: 30/06/2025

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