Trends and hotspots of global ultra-processed food research(2010-2023):A scientometric study

Background:Recently,ultra-processed foods(UPFs)have attracted considerable attention,leading to numerous studies worldwide.Scientometrics is currently gaining popularity among scientific communities,offering advantage of providing critical references to scholars of specific fields.Methods:This scientometric study aimed to analyze trends and hotspots of UPF research using English articles or reviews related to UPFs retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection on March 5,2023.Two independent researchers selected the identified records on titles,abstracts,and author’s keywords,and the data were analyzed using R-bibliometrix,CiteSpace,and VOSviewer.Results:A total of 1018 publications(901 articles and 117 reviews)published from 2010 to 2023 were included.The result showed a significant increase in UPF publications over the past decades.Brazil published the highest number of papers(n=473),with over half of the top 10 active institutions were located in Brazil.The University of São Paulo contributed the most publications(n=206)and the 10 most productive authors belonged to this institution,with Monteiro CA and Levy RB contributing the most publications.The main research foundations included the NOVA system,the definition of UPFs,the prevalence of UPFs,and the impact of UPFs on dietary quality and health status.The main research frontiers included topics such as“systematic review,”“NOVA food classification,”“COVID-19,”“diabetes,”“pregnancy,”“food addiction,”“warning labels,”“plant-based diet,”and“commercial determinants of health”.Conclusions:This study provided a comprehensive overview of development trends and research hotspots of global UPF studies.

Nutritional epigenetics education improves diet and attitude of parents of children with autism or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

BACKGROUND Unhealthy maternal diet leads to heavy metal exposures from the consumption of ultra-processed foods that may impact gene behavior across generations,creating conditions for the neurodevelopmental disorders known as autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD).Children with these disorders have difficulty metabolizing and excreting heavy metals from their bloodstream,and the severity of their symptoms correlates with the heavy metal levels measured in their blood.Psychiatrists may play a key role in helping parents reduce their ultra-processed food and dietary heavy metal intake by providing access to effective nutritional epigenetics education.AIM To test the efficacy of nutritional epigenetics instruction in reducing parental ultra-processed food intake.METHODS The study utilized a semi-randomized test and control group pretest-posttest pilot study design with participants recruited from parents having a learning-disabled child with autism or ADHD.Twenty-two parents who met the inclusion criteria were randomly selected to serve in the test(n=11)or control(n=11)group.The test group participated in the six-week online nutritional epigenetics tutorial,while the control group did not.The efficacy of the nutritional epigenetics instruction was determined by measuring changes in parent diet and attitude using data derived from an online diet survey administered to the participants during the pre and post intervention periods.Diet intake scores were derived for both ultra-processed and whole/organic foods.Paired sample t-tests were conducted to determine any differences in mean diet scores within each group.RESULTS There was a significant difference in the diet scores of the test group between the pre-and post-intervention periods.The parents in the test group significantly reduced their intake of ultra-processed foods with a preintervention diet score of 70(mean=5.385,SD=2.534)and a post-intervention diet score of 113(mean=8.692,SD=1.750)and the paired t-test analysis showing a significance of P<0.001.The test group also significantly increased their consumption of whole and/or organic foods with a pre-intervention diet score of 100(mean=5.882,SD=2.472)and post-intervention diet score of 121(mean=7.118,SD=2.390)and the paired t-test analysis showing a significance of P<0.05.CONCLUSION Here we show nutritional epigenetics education can be used to reduce ultra-processed food intake and improve attitude among parents having learning-disabled children with autism or ADHD.