Association of minimally processed and ultra-processed food daily consumption with obesity in adults: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: food type represents higher odds of having obesity (OB), especially in overweight (OW) subjects. Minimally and ultra-processed foods can be associated with the odds of having OB in OW subjects. Objective: to investigate the association of minimally and ultra-processed food consumption with OB in OW adults.Methods: we included 15,024 participants (9,618 OW [25.0-29.9 kg/m2], 5,406 OB [& GE; 30 kg/m2]) with ages ranging from 18 to 59 years from the 2019 baseline survey of the Surveillance of Risk Factors and Protection for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey (VIGITEL, Brazil). Minimally and ultra-processed food daily consumption scores and confounding variables (age, sex, scholarly, physical activity, hypertension, and diabetes) were measured. Binary logistic regression analyzes the association of minimally and ultra-processed food consumption scores with OB (odds ratio [OR]).Results: minimally processed food consumption score quartiles (1st = 1[food-score/day]; 2nd = 6[food-score/day]; 3rd = 7[food-score/day]; 4th = 8[food-score/day]) presented higher values compared to ultra-processed food (1st = 1[food-score/day]; 2nd = 1[food-score/day]; 3rd = 2[food-score/day]; 4th = 4[food-score/day]). For each score of minimally processed food consumed, there was a -5.9 % odds of OB. Thus, the higher quartile (4th) of minimally processed food consumption score represents less odds of OB (OR: -47.2 %; p < 0.001). Each ultra-processed food score consumed presented odds of 3.7 % of OB. Therefore, higher consumption of ultra-processed food (4th quartile) shows higher odds of OB (OR: +14.8 %; p < 0.001). All associations remained significatively even after being adjusted by the confounders.Conclusion: the consumption scores of minimally processed and ultra-processed foods presented a magnitude capable of impacting OW adults' odds of OB, even when controlled by sociodemographic factors, physical activity, hypertension, and diabetes.