Increased Consumption of Ultra-Processed Food Is Associated with Poor Mental Health in a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescent Students in Brazil

The objective of this study was to analyze the association between ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and mental health symptoms in a nationally representative sample of the Brazilian adolescent student population. Cross-sectional analyses with data from the National School-Based Health Survey (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nutrients 2022-12, Vol.14 (24), p.5207
Main Authors:	Mesas, Arthur Eumann, González, Alberto Durán, de Andrade, Selma Maffei, Martínez-Vizcaíno, Vicente, López-Gil, José Francisco, Jiménez-López, Estela
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adolescent Adolescents Alcohol Anxiety Body image Brazil - epidemiology Bullying Child development Cross-Sectional Studies Demographic aspects Dependent variables depression Diet eating behavior Fast Foods Female Food Food and nutrition Food consumption Food processing Food, Processed Generalized linear models Girls Health aspects Health risk assessment Health risks High school students Humans Male Meals Mental depression Mental disorders Mental Health Processed foods Psychological aspects Psychological manifestations of general diseases Questionnaires Risk factors Self image Socioeconomic factors Statistical models Students Surveys Teenagers Tobacco Victimization
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Summary:	The objective of this study was to analyze the association between ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and mental health symptoms in a nationally representative sample of the Brazilian adolescent student population. Cross-sectional analyses with data from the National School-Based Health Survey (PeNSE 2019) were performed. Self-reported information was obtained for the frequency of five mental health symptoms in the last month and the consumption of thirteen UPFs in the last 24 h. Generalized linear models adjusting for the main confounders were performed for each sex. Of the 94,767 adolescent students (52.4% girls) included, 8.1% of the boys and 27.2% of the girls reported "almost always" or "always" having at least four of the five mental health symptoms. In the fully adjusted models, compared to the boys who consumed ≤3 UPF, those consuming ≥6 UPF reported more frequent symptoms of poor mental health (ß-coefficient = 0.27 [0.03, 0.51]; -for-trend = 0.005). A similar association was observed in girls (ß-coefficient = 0.31 [0.13, 0.50]; -for-trend = 0.001). In conclusion, in this large sample of adolescent students from an entire country, the higher the consumption of UPF was, the higher the frequency of reported symptoms of poor mental health. These findings remained significant regardless of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, self-perceived body image, and bullying victimization.
ISSN:	2072-6643 2072-6643