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Population study: one-time survey

Survey of 30,243 Brazilians: ultra-processed food linked to higher odds of obesity

Louzada and colleagues · Preventive medicine · 2015

Original title: Consumption of ultra-processed foods and obesity in Brazilian adolescents and adults.

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What the study found

Points to harm

Highest fifth had a BMI 0.94 kg/m(2) higher and higher odds of obesity (OR=1.98; 95% CI: 1.26,3.12). Excess weight was not clearly higher (OR=1.26; 0.95,1.69).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Population study: one-time survey
Who or what was studied
30,243 people · 30,243 Brazilians aged 10 and over
What was tested
Highest vs lowest fifth of ultra-processed food intake and body weight
What it measured
The question itself: death, heart disease, diabetes and cancer
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Preventive medicine, 2015
Source
PubMed record 26231112. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • –A one-time snapshot: it shows a link, not a cause, and cannot show which came first.
  • ✓Large: 30,243 people.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: death, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: death and chronic disease

    2

    1 no difference, 1 harm

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    3

    1 mixed, 1 no direction, 1 harm

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    1

    1 mixed

  4. Population studies

    17

    1 mixed, 16 harm

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Are ultra-processed foods bad for your health?”

Linked to worse health; cause not proven.

Confidence: low. Based on 38 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 16 papers on the same step: 1 mixed, 15 harm. This one found harm. It agrees with most of them.

  • Marked as a key paper in the research timeline: Brazil survey links intake to obesity.

Other papers on the same step

See all 38 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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