'Gateway' foods like candy, pastries and frozen treats may lead to unhealthy teen eating

According to recent research presented at the American Heart Association's Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2022, Sept. 7–10, 2022 in San Diego, some ultra-processed foods, like candy, pastries, and frozen desserts, may be "gateway" foods for teenagers, encouraging them to consume larger amounts of other unhealthy foods. The meeting is the best forum for scientific discussion of latest developments in basic and clinical research on hypertension and its links to obesity, genetics, heart and renal disease, stroke, and other conditions.

According to the research, cutting back on certain gateway foods may have an effect on how much overall ultra-processed food consumption, which is characterized by high levels of sugar, salt, harmful trans fat, and artificial tastes and colors, is consumed. More than 60% of the calories consumed daily by Americans come from ultra-processed foods like bread, cereal, sweets, soda, and processed meats. High intake of ultra-processed foods has been associated with early death, heart disease risk, weight gain, and hypertension in the past.

According to Maria Balhara, the study's principal researcher and a student at Broward College in Davie, Florida, "ultra-processed meals are designed to be hyper-palatable, or engineered to be as addictive as possible." "They are difficult to refuse because they are also affordable and practical. Without realizing it, the majority of individuals eat too much of these items."

Balhara, who is 16 years old and led the study while concurrently enrolled in Cooper City High School and Broward College, offers a unique viewpoint on adolescent eating behavior.

During the previous 8 weeks, Balhara collected information on how frequently adolescents consumed 12 ultra-processed food items. Prepackaged cookies, candies, chips, chocolate, energy drinks, frozen desserts, soda, store-bought pastries, store-bought smoothies, coffee or tea sweetened with syrup, white bread, and processed meat were among the ultra-processed items. 315 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 were recruited for the study from 12 South Florida high schools between February and April 2022. Participants had an average BMI of 22.8 (showing normal body weight), and 56 percent of them self-identified as white, 25.2 percent as Hispanic, and 7.6 percent as black. Furthermore, of the participants, 52.2% identified as female, 41.6% as male, 3.2% as nonbinary, and the other individuals did not define their gender.

Participants responded to a questionnaire created by Balhara called the Processed Intake Evaluation (PIE). After the COVID 19 limits were released, the survey asked questions to compare respondents' intake of the 12 processed items for the previous 8 weeks in 2022 with their projected consumption in 2019. (before COVID restrictions were implemented). In the survey, students were asked whether certain assertions, like "I often drank soda during the preceding 8 weeks in 2022" and "I often drank soda prior to the epidemic in 2019," were "true" or "false." Their responses were used to generate a PIE score between 0 and 100, with 8.33 points awarded for "frequently" replies and 0 points for all other responses. Their scores for predicted pre-pandemic 2019 consumption were contrasted with their results for consumption in 2022.

It was discovered that candy, prepackaged pastries, and frozen desserts may serve as a "gateway" to influence changes in the consumption of other processed foods. Teenagers who reduced their intake of these "gateway" items had a higher likelihood of reducing their intake of all other ultra-processed foods.

According to the investigation, these were some of the gateway foods:

An 11% increase in consumption of all other ultra-processed foods was linked to an increase in the frequency of frozen dessert intake;

A 12% rise in consumption of all other ultra-processed meals was linked to higher pastry intake; and

A 31% rise in consumption of all other ultra-processed meals was linked to higher candy consumption.

The study also discovered that 57% of adolescents believed their consumption had decreased as determined by their PIE score, whereas 43% of them believed their consumption of ultra-processed foods had grown after the pandemic restrictions were relaxed.

Reduced consumption of processed meats was linked to an 8% reduction in consumption of all other ultra-processed foods among study participants. White bread consumption was linked to a 9% reduction in consumption of all other ultra-processed foods, and prepackaged cookies consumption was linked to a 10% reduction in consumption of all other ultra-processed foods.

Since increased consumption of these foods appears to lead to increased consumption of other processed foods, Balhara advised avoiding foods like candy, store-bought pastries, and frozen desserts for teenagers whose consumption of ultra-processed foods has not yet been established.

The good news, she continues, is that even modest adjustments, like reducing how frequently you consume a few gateway foods, may help you consume fewer unhealthy foods overall and improve your health as a whole.

Donna K. Arnett, Ph.D., executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of South Carolina and a former president of the American Heart Association, said, "I commend Ms. Balhara for her project, which highlights the importance of establishing good dietary patterns early in life. "It is generally known that low nutritional quality is correlated with cardiovascular risk factors. Although this is only a tiny, preliminary study, it is an essential one to further explore since it will shed light on how we might affect dietary habits to support good cardiovascular health for people of all ages."

The study's shortcomings included the fact that the data was self-reported and that it could not be generalized to all teenage demographics. Additionally, the PIE survey has not been validated, and blood tests to assess the effects of participants' dietary choices were not included in the study's health data.

American Heart Association