A revolution in food science and modern grocery retailing over the last 60 years has led to explosive growth in manufacturing and consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). UPFs are not simply foods that have been modified by cooking or adding ingredients; they are edible formulations that have been transformed from food-derived substances, along with additives that heighten their appeal and durability. UPFs contain low-cost ingredients, have long shelf-lives, are hyper-palatable, and are highly branded and aggressively marketed to consumers. UPFs are often high in calories, sugars, refined starches, saturated and trans fats, and sodium, and scholars are increasingly recognizing and calling attention to the addictive qualities of certain UPFs.
These attributes of UPFs wreak havoc on health and increase risk of a myriad of diseases. In fact, high UPF intake has been directly associated with increased risk of over 32 negative health outcomes, including all-cause mortality, heart disease related mortality, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and mental health disorders. UPFs now comprise over half of daily caloric intake in some high-income countries (e.g., the U.S.), and intake is trending upward in middle and low-income countries. Policy interventions are needed to curb rising UPF consumption and lessen their associated negative health and environmental outcomes.
Our research in this area includes:
Most recently, we launched the Food Policy Accelerator — a new initiative in collaboration with Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Fed UP! Movement — that will provide policymakers and advocates with scientific research, food supply data, and technical, legal, and scientific expertise to help translate the latest science on UPFs into meaningful policy action in the U.S.
See all of our publications related to UPFs here, and learn more in our UPF fact sheet.
Comments for FDA definition of ultra-processed foods
Comments submitted by Drs. Marissa Hall, Shu Wen Ng, Barry Popkin, and Lindsey Smith Taillie on behalf of the Global Food Research Program to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding creation of a national definition of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) for policy and regulation.
Stages of the Nutrition Transition
Diagram outlining the five phases of the Nutrition Transition and their associated dietary and activity patterns. © Barry M. Popkin, 2021
This fact sheet describes ultra-processed foods and drinks and the threat they pose to public health worldwide as they make up increasingly greater portions of the global diet. Learn how to identify ultra-processed products; review the evidence for their association with a multitude of risk factors, diseases, and mortality; see how ultra-processed foods negatively impact the environment and ecosystems; and explore policy options to reduce consumption.
Equity-driven fiscal policies: taxing ultra-processed products and subsidizing minimally processed foods
Authors: Paula Carvalho Pereda, Maria Alice Moz-Christofoletti, Ana Clara Duran, Maria Laura da Costa Louzada, Shu Wen Ng
Published in: Food Policy, July 14, 2024 view full text
Front-of-package ultraprocessed warning labels: a randomized controlled trial with Chilean parent
Authors: Aline D'Angelo Campos, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Marissa G. Hall, Shu Wen Ng, Natalia Rebolledo
Published in: Frontiers in Nutrition, November 1, 2026 view full text
Novel approaches for identifying unhealthy food and beverages for policy: a cross-sectional study of purchases of packaged products in Latin America
Authors: Lilia S. Pedraza, Elizabeth K. Dunford, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Shu Wen Ng, Donna R. Miles, Camila Zancheta, Francisco Diez-Canseco, Barry Popkin
Published in: The Lancet, Regional Health Americas, October 1, 2026 view full text
Integrating Policies that Enable Minimally Processed Foods with Policies that Restrict Ultra-Processed Foods for Obesity and Noncommunicable Disease Prevention
Authors: Jonathan Lara-Arevalo, Shu Wen Ng, Melissa L. Jensen, Isabel Barbosa, Valentina Castagnari, Fernanda Mediano Stoltze, Elizabeth Orlan, Nadia Flexner, Lindsey Smith Taillie
Published in: Current Obesity Reports, July 11 2026 view full text
Beyond the body: the ultraprocessed food industry's environmental toll
Authors: Lindsey Smith Taillie, Nicholas Chartres, Kim Anastasiou, Joe Yates
Published in: American Journal of Public Health, June 3, 2026 view full text
Operationally defining and targeting ultraprocessed foods: Insights from US policy proposals
Authors: Aline D'Angelo Campos, James Krieger, Carmen Prestemon, Bridget Hollingsworth,Lindsey Smith Taillie
Published in: American Journal of Public Health, June 3, 2026 view full text
What Do Nova and the Ultraprocessed Food Concept Offer to Policymakers? From Updating Dietary Guidance to Regulatory Action and Advancing Sustainable Food System Transitions
Authors: Carlos Monteiro, Phillip Baker, Camila Corvalan, Barry Popkin
Published in: American Journal of Public Health, June 3, 2026 view full text
Towards unified global action on ultra-processed foods: understanding commercial determinants, countering corporate power, and mobilising a public health response
Authors: Phillip Baker, Scott Slater, Mariel White, Benjamin Wood, Alejandra Contreras, Camila Corvalan, Arun Gupta, Karen Hofman, Petronell Kruger, Amos Laar, Mark Lawrence, Mikateko Mafuyeka, Melissa Mialon, Carlos Monteiro, Silver Nanema, Sirinya Phulkerd, Barry Popkin, Paulo Serodio, Katherine Shats, Christoffer Van Tulleken, Marion Nestle, Simon Barquera
Published in: The Lancet, November 18, 2025 view full text
Policies to halt and reverse the rise in ultra-processed food production, marketing, and consumption
Authors: Gyorgy Scrinis, Barry Popkin, Camila Corvalán, Ana Clara Duran, Marion Nestle, Mark Lawrence, Phillip Baker, Carlos Monteiro, Christopher Millett, Jean-Claude Moubarac, Patricia Jaime, Neha Khandpur
Published in: The Lancet, November 18, 2025 view full text
Firm’s responses to food policies to reduce consumption of ultra-processed food and beverages: lessons from the existing evidence
Authors: Juan Carlos Salgado, Bhairavi Jayaraman, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Shu Wen Ng
Published in: Food Policy, October 31, 2025 view full text
Prevalence of ultra-processed foods and beverages in newly launched products across the Americas: a comparison between the United States and Latin American countries from 2018 to 2023
Authors: Gabriela Vatavuk-Serrati, Katie Meyer, Donna Miles, Lindsey Smith Taillie
Published in: Frontiers in Public Health, September 7, 2025 view full text
All the Colors of the Rainbow: Synthetic Dyes in US Packaged Foods and Beverages in 2020
Authors: Elizabeth Dunford, Thomas Galligan, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Aviva Musicus
Published in: Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, June, 24, 2025 view full text
Exploring disparities in the proportion of ultra-processed foods and beverages purchased in grocery stores by US households in 2020
Authors: Elizabeth Dunford, Donna Miles, and Barry Popkin
Published in: Public Health Nutrition, April 24, 2025 view full text
The mismatch between biological needs and the modern food industry
Authors: Barry Popkin, Shuwen Ng, Lindsey Smith Taillie
Published in: Nature Food, March 10, 2025 view full text
Nutrition Transition's latest stage: Are ultra-processed food increases in low- and middle-income countries dooming our preschoolers' diets and future health?
Authors: Barry Popkin, Amos Laar
Published in: Pediatric Obesity, January 21, 2025 view full text
Perceived healthfulness, nutrient content awareness, consumption, and intention to purchase selected Ultra Processed Products among adults in South Africa
Authors: Makoma Bopape, Jeroen De Man, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Rina Swart
Published in: Advances in Public Health, January 4, 2025 view full text
Using Food Composition Tables to Estimate Decreases in Sodium Intake Due to the Reformulation of Packaged and Ultra-Processed Foods in a Young Population in South Africa
Authors: Alexandra Ross, Elizabeth Swart, Joelaine Chetty, Malory Jumat, Tamryn Frank, Averalda van Graan
Published in: Public Health Nutrition, December 26, 2024 view full text
Recall, understanding, use, and impact of front-of-package warning labels on ultra-processed foods: A qualitative study with mothers of preschool children in Peru
Authors: Francisco Diez-Canseco, Lizzete Najarro, Victoria Cavero, Lorena Saavedra-Garcia, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Francesca Dillman Carpentier, J. Jaime Miranda
Published in: PLOS Global Public Health, December 12, 2024 view full text
“Warning: ultra-processed”: an online experiment examining the impact of ultra-processed warning labels on consumers’ product perceptions and behavioral intentions
Authors: Aline D'Angelo Campos, Shu Wen Ng, Ana Clara Duran, Neha Khandpur, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Fernanda Christon, Marissa Hall
Published in: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, October 9, 2024 view full text
The consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with adiposity, but not with metabolic indicators in a prospective cohort study of Chilean preschool children
Authors: Camila Zancheta, Natalia Rebolledo, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Marcela Reyes, Camila Corvalán
Published in: BMC Medicine, August 26, 2024 view full text
Estimated effects of reductions in processed meat consumption and unprocessed red meat consumption on occurrences of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and mortality in the USA: a microsimulation study
Authors: Joe Kennedy, Peter Alexander, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Lindsay Jaacks
Published in: The Lancet Planetary Health, July 1, 2024 view full text
How promising are "ultra-processed" front-of-package labels? A formative study with U.S. adults
Authors: Aline D'Angelo Campos, Shu Wen Ng, Katherine McNeel, Marissa Hall
Published in: Nutrients, April 6, 2024 view full text
Promoting healthier purchases: ultra-processed food taxes and minimally-processed food subsidies for the low income.
Authors: Pourya Valizadeh, Shu Wen Ng
Published in: American Journal of Preventative Medicine, April 2, 2024 view full text
A policy approach to identifying food and beverage products that are ultra-processed and high in added salt, sugar and saturated fat
Authors: Barry Popkin, Donna Miles, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Elizabeth Dunford
Published in: The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, March 8, 2024 view full text
Dietary intake of low-income adults in South Africa: Ultra-processed food consumption a cause for concern.
Authors: Tamryn Frank, Shu Wen Ng, Caitlin Lowery, Anne-Marie Thow, Elizabeth Swart
Published in: Public Health Nutrition, January 11, 2024 view full text
Ultra-processed food for infants and toddlers; dynamics of supply and demand
Authors: Elizabeth K. Dunford, Barry M. Popkin
Published in: Bulletin of the World Health Organization, May 1, 2023 view full text
Food additives in ultra-processed packaged foods: An examination of US household grocery store purchases
Authors: Elizabeth K. Dunford, Donna R. Miles, Barry Popkin
Published in: Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, January 31, 2023 view full text
Reformulation of top-selling processed and ultra-processed foods and beverages in the Peruvian food supply after front-of-package warning label policy
Authors: Lorena Saavedra-Garcia, Mayra Meza-Hernández, Francisco Diez-Canseco, Lindsey Smith Taillie
Published in: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, December 27, 2022 view full text
The nutrition transition to a stage of high obesity and noncommunicable disease prevalence dominated by ultra-processed foods is not inevitable
Authors: Barry M. Popkin BM, Shu Wen Ng
Published in: Obesity Reviews, October 10, 2021 view full text
Intake of ultraprocessed foods among US youths: Health concerns and opportunities for research and policy
Authors: Katie A. Meyer, Lindsey Smith Taillie
Published in: JAMA, August 10, 2021 view full text
Towards unified and impactful policies to reduce ultra-processed food consumption and promote healthier eating
Authors: Barry M. Popkin, Simón Barquera, Camila Corvalán, Karen Hofman, Carlos Monteiro, Shu Wen Ng, Elizabeth C. Swart, Lindsey Smith Taillie
Published in: The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, April 15, 2021 view full text
Ultra-processed food consumption among Chilean preschoolers is associated with diets promoting non-communicable diseases
Authors: Carolina Araya, Camila Corvalán, Gustavo Cediel, Lindsey Smith Taillie, Marcela Reyes
Published in: Frontiers in Nutrition, March 26, 2021 view full text
Experimental studies of front-of-package nutrient warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed foods: a scoping review
Authors: Lindsey S. Taillie, Marissa G. Hall, Barry M. Popkin, Shu Wen Ng, Nandita Murukutla
Published in: Nutrients, February 22 2020 view full text
Ultra-processed food intake and obesity: What really matters for health — processing or nutrient content?
Authors: Jennifer M. Poti, Bianca Braga, Bo Qin
Published in: Current Obesity Reports, October 25, 2017 view full text
The share of ultra-processed foods and the overall nutritional quality of diets in the US: Evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study
Authors: Euridice Martínez Steele, Barry M. Popkin, Boyd Swinburn, Carlos A. Monteiro
Published in: Population Health Metrics, February 2016 view full text
Highly processed and ready-to-eat packaged food and beverage purchases differ by race/ethnicity among US households
Authors: Jennifer M. Poti, Michelle A. Mendez, Shu Wen Ng, Barry M. Popkin
Published: The Journal of Nutrition, September 2016 view full text
Is the degree of food processing and convenience linked with the nutritional quality of foods purchased by US households?
Authors: Jennifer M. Poti, Michelle A. Mendez, Shu Wen Ng, Barry M. Popkin
Published in: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2015 view full text