Ultra-processed foods: Implications for gastrointestinal health

Table 4 Summary of available studies on the use of ultra-processed food and risk of inflammatory bowel disease[13-17,51-69]

Ref.	Study design	Population (n)	Assessment method	Diagnostic methods	Main findings
Studies on UPFs and the risk of UC
Persson et al[51], 1992	Case-control	n = 755; Cases: 445, Controls: 310	FFQ	Medical records	Higher fast-food intake: ↑ risk of UC
[52], 1994	Case-control	n = 245; Cases: 146, Controls: 109	Dietary history questionnaire	Self-reported	Western diet: ↑ risk of UC
Rashvand et al[60], 2018	Case-control	n = 186; Cases: 81, Control: 105	FFQ	Medical report	Processed meat: ↑ risk of UC
Akbari et al[67], 2022	Case-control	n = 244; Cases: 85, Control: 158	FFQ	Diagnosis by gastroenterologists	Western dietary pattern: No increased risk of UC
Studies on UPFs and the risk of CD
Cohen et al[57], 2013	Cohort study	n = 6768	FFQ	Self-reported	Higher intake of sweetened beverages: ↑ risk of CD
Peters et al[65], 2022	Cohort study	n = 125445	FFQ	Self-reported	Western diet pattern: ↑ risk of CD
Narula et al[13], 2021	Cohort study	n = 116037	FFQ/NOVA classification	Self-reported	UPFs consumption: ↑ risk of CD
Studies on UPFs and risk of IBD (both UC and CD
Klein et al[53], 1998	Case-control	n = 87; Cases: 60, Control: 27	Dietary history questionnaire	Diagnosis by gastroenterologists	Higher total sugar intake: ↑ risk of both UC & CD
Russel et al[54], 1998	Case-control	n = 1304; Cases: 668, Control: 636	Dietary history questionnaire	Medical records	Chocolate intake: No increased risk of IBD
Sakamoto et al[55], 2005	Case-control	n = 319; Cases: 156, Control: 163	FFQ	Self-administered questionnaire	Higher sweets intake was associated with ↑ the risk of IBD; Risk for CD > UC
Maconi et al[56], 2010	Case-control	n = 243; Cases: 146, Control: 97	FFQ	Medical records	Processed meat and refined sugar intake: ↑ risk of IBD
Ng et al[58], 2015	Case-control	n = 1382; Cases: 775, Control: 607	Food habits questionnaire	Diagnosis by gastroenterologists	Western dietary pattern: No increased risk of IBD
Ananthakrishnan et al[59], 2015	Cohort study	n = 84803	FFQ	Self-reported and medical reports	Western dietary pattern: No increased risk of IBD
Racine et al[61], 2016	Case-control	n = 366351	FFQ	Hospital-based registries, pathology records	Sugar and soft drinks: No increased risk of IBD
Khalili et al[62], 2019	Cohort study	n = 83042	FFQ	Medical records	Sweetened beverage intake: ↑ risk of IBD
Preda et al[63], 2020	Case-control	n = 185	Dietary history questionnaire	Diagnosis by gastroenterologists	Intake of sweets/sweetened drinks, processed meat, fried foods, ice-cream, and mayonnaise: ↑ risk of IBD
Han et al[64], 2020	Case-control	n = 103789; Cases: 46456, Control: 57333	Dietary history questionnaire	Self-reported	Fast food, ice cream, processed meat, cookies, candy, sugar-sweetened beverages: ↑ risk of IBD
Vasseur et al[14], 2021	Cohort study	n = 105832	24-hour dietary/NOVA classification	Self-reported	UPFs consumption: No increased risk of IBD
Meyer et al[15], 2023	Cohort study	n = 413590	FFQ/NOVA classification	Self-reported	UPFs consumption: No increased risk of IBD
Dong et al[66], 2022	Cohort study	n = 413590	FFQ	Self-reported	Processed meat intake: No increased risk of IBD
Lo et al[16], 2022	Cohort study	n = 245112	FFQ/NOVA classification	Self-reported and medical report	UPFs consumption: ↑ risk of IBD

CD: Crohn’s disease; FFQ: Food frequency questionnaire; IBD: Inflammatory bowel disease; UC: Ulcerative colitis; UPFs: Ultra-processed foods.