Processed Foods
What do people think when they hear the term "processed food?"
The term "processed food" has become pretty common, and has been used in health guidelines around the world. There is a lot of public health research on the consumption of processed and ultra-processed (UPF) foods, showing a relationship between these foods and cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression, and all-cause mortality. However, what actually counts as processed or ultra-processed is up for debate, and even professionals are divided on how best to define them.
The most common classification scheme is NOVA, which defines four categories along a spectrum of processing (unprocessed/minimally processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods, and ultra-processed foods). While it has been used in public health research quite widely, it doesn't seem to work well for people trying to make dietary choices, with people showing very little agreement about what actually counts as unprocessed, processed, or ultra-processed when using the NOVA system.
The goal of this project is to better understand public understanding of and engagement with the concept of processed foods.
People
Our lab members working on this project:
Spencer Williams
Lab director
Xintong Hou
Contributor
Nicole Kening Li
Co-pilot
Hanrui (Allison) Tang
Co-pilot
Related Publications
Hopefully coming soon!