Ultra-Processed “Gateway” Foods May Lead to Unhealthy Teen Eating

A 16-year-old scientist's recent investigation on teen eating patterns revealed that highly processed foods may lead to more poor diet selections.

According to a study on the eating patterns of adolescents, ultra-processed goods like sweets, prepackaged pastries, and frozen desserts may serve as a "gateway" and encourage a person to consume more unhealthy meals.

When compared to 2022, the year after the pandemic limitations were lifted, 43% of the teens said they had increased their use of ultra-processed foods.

57% of teenagers thought they will consume fewer highly processed foods between 2019 and 2022.

Teenagers may use candy, pastries, frozen desserts, and some other ultra-processed foods as "gateway" items to consume larger amounts of other unhealthy meals. This is supported by recent study presented at the American Heart Association's Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2022, which will be held in San Diego from September 7–10 of that year. The meeting is the main forum for scholarly discussion on the most recent developments in basic and clinical research on hypertension and its connections to diseases like kidney and heart illness, obesity, stroke, and heredity.

Reducing consumption of critical gateway foods, which are high in sugar, salt, harmful trans fat, and artificial flavors and colors, may have an impact on the overall consumption of ultra-processed meals, the study finds. More than 60% of the calories consumed by Americans each day come from ultra-processed meals including cereal, bread, sweets, sodas, and processed meats. Prior research has connected excessive intake of ultra-processed foods to early death, weight gain, hypertension, and an increased risk of heart disease.

According to Maria Balhara, "ultra-processed meals are designed to be hyper-palatable or manufactured to be as addictive as possible." She is a student at Broward College in Davie, Florida, and the study's principal investigator. They are difficult to refuse because they are also affordable and convenient. Most people unknowingly consume excessive amounts of these foods.

Balhara, who is 16 years old, has a distinct viewpoint on the eating habits of adolescents. She oversaw the investigation while concurrently enrolled at Cooper City High School and Broward College.

During the previous eight weeks, Balhara gathered information on how frequently adolescents consumed 12 ultra-processed food items. Prepackaged cookies, chips, sweets, frozen desserts, energy drinks, soda, store-bought pastries, store-bought smoothies, syrup-sweetened coffee or tea, white bread, and processed meat were among the ultra-processed foods. 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' average BMI was 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 indicate their gender.

Participants in the study responded to a questionnaire created by Balhara called the Processed Intake Evaluation (PIE). In 2022, a study was conducted to determine how frequently people consumed 12 processed foods over the previous 8 weeks. Additionally, it asked them to compare their anticipated 2019 use to their expected 2022 consumption (after COVID-19 limits were abolished) (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 found 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.

Increased consumption of frozen desserts was linked to an increase in consumption of all other ultra-processed foods by 11%, pastries to an increase in consumption of all ultra-processed foods by 12%, and candy to an increase in consumption of all ultra-processed foods by 31%.

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 intake of processed meats among research participants was associated with an 8% reduction in consumption of all other ultra-processed meals, among other foods in the survey. A 9% decrease in consumption of all other ultra-processed foods was linked to a decrease in white bread consumption. Prepackaged cookie intake was found to be associated with a 10% reduction in consumption of all other ultra-processed foods.

Since increased intake of these items appears to lead to increased consumption of other processed foods, Balhara advised avoiding goods like candy, store-bought pastries, and frozen desserts for youth 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. Poor food quality and cardiovascular risk factors have a well-established link. 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 ideal 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 verified, and blood tests to assess the effects of participants' dietary choices were not included in the study's health data.

By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION