Summary of UPFs, overeating and summary
- Overeating is often linked to ultra-processed food
- Recent research explores the reasons why people overeat
- Food’s nutrition is the most important factor, and energy density plays a major role.
- Foods perceived to be healthy are less likely than unhealthy foods to cause overeating.
- The UPF rating of a food under the Nova classification has minimal effect on excessive eating.
The alleged hyperpalatability of ultra-processed food (UPFs), i.e. how enjoyable and easy they are to consume, is a key controversy.
According to this argument, consumers may find it difficult to stop eating UPFs, which could even lead to an addiction.
New research challenges this belief, claiming that the UPF rating of a food – or having an ‘4’ on the Nova scale – does not have much effect on how much a person will eat.
What is the Nova classification
Nova is the method most often used to designate the level of processing of an food.
The four types of food processing are minimally processed, ingredients processed, foods processed and ultra-processed, which is the highest level.
Nova defines ultra-processed food as foods that are made from processed fractions and require little or no cooking. They also contain a large amount of additives. Pizza, ice-cream, doughnuts and packaged sliced bread are examples.
Why do consumers overeat?
Why do consumers overeat? This was one of the main questions the research set out to answer.
The study asked participants to evaluate 436 foods by rating how they like them and whether or not they think they will eat it too much.
In the study the concept of “hedonic eating” was applied, meaning to consume food beyond the point where you are satisfied because of the taste or texture of the food.
Researchers then examined which of the following factors was most predictive of overeating due to hedonistic reasons: the UPF rating, the carbohydrate-to-fat ratio, the nutritional value, and the way participants rated the food’s taste and nutrition.
Read also: Are ultra-processed foods addictive?
Nutrition and overeating
Hedonic eating was caused by many factors. The majority of the factors were related to the perception and nutritional value of food.
Energy density was the strongest predictor for overeating in terms of nutrition. Overeating is a result of energy density, which has been proven to activate reward areas in the brain.
The opposite was true: high-fiber foods are negatively associated with overeating. This could be due to the fact that fibre can help increase satiety and bulk in the diet.
The nutritional content of food explains around 40%-57% variances in eating, which is the highest of all predictors.
Perceptions of these foods and their association with hedonic eating were affected by several factors. The perceived taste of foods had a huge impact on the participants’ ability to link them with excessive eating. Foods that were deemed sweeter, for example, were more likely to be associated with it. Overeating was more associated with foods that had a high fat content.
The less healthy an item was considered to be the less likely it was that the food would lead people to overeat.
Around 17-38% variances in overeating are explained by the perception of foods.
UPF does not have much effect on excessive eating
Although the food’s UPF status according to Nova was important, it played a minor role compared to other factors.
The relationship between food consumption and overeating is between 2 and 7 percent. This amount pales in comparison with the nutritional value and perception of a particular food.
The Nova classification was criticized in the past for its focus on nutritional content of food.
Although many of the ingredients of the foods that are associated with excessive eating are also common to UPFs they do not make up the essential components for a food being a UPF as Nova does not place a focus on nutrition.