Publications by authors named "Renata Bertazzi Levy"

The scope of this study was to verify differences in the characteristics of predominantly ultra-processed foods or culinary dishes on sale from the largest food delivery app in Brazil in neighborhoods with differing socioeconomic categories in the city of São Paulo. Twenty neighborhoods were selected, categorized according to quartiles of the Municipal Human Development Index. Data on food on sale, classified as culinary preparations or ultra-processed foods, were collected from the centroid of the neighborhoods.

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Industrial food processing has been linked to various health outcomes including cancer. To examine associations between the degree of food processing and risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and its sub-sites, data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) including 6155 incident CRC cases (n = 450,111 participants), were analyzed. Dietary intakes were assessed using baseline food frequency questionnaires.

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Background: Ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption has been linked with higher risk of mortality. This multi-centre study investigated associations between food intake by degree of processing, using the Nova classification, and all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

Methods: This study analyzed data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

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Objective: To describe two low-burden diet quality scores and evaluate their performance in reflecting the dietary share of the least and most processed foods defined within the Nova food system classification.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included data from the NutriNet-Brasil cohort. Participants answered the Nova24hScreener, a 3-minute self-administered questionnaire measuring the consumption of a set of foods on the day before.

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Background: Ultraprocessed foods (UPF) consumption has been associated with depression risk, but its association with depression persistence is unclear.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of UPF consumption with depression persistence and incidence.

Design: The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health is a multicenter prospective cohort study with 3 waves (2008-2010, 2012-2014, and 2017-2019).

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Unlabelled: Recent epidemiological studies have suggested a positive association between ultra-processed food consumption and breast cancer risk, although some studies also reported no association. Furthermore, the evidence regarding the associations between intake of food with lower degrees of processing and breast cancer risk is limited. Thus, we investigated the associations between dietary intake by degree of food processing and breast cancer risk, overall and by breast cancer subtypes in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

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The aim of this study was to describe the dietary intake of British vegetarians according to the Nova classification and to evaluate the association between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and the nutritional quality of the diet. We used data from the UK national survey (2008/2019). Food collected through a 4-d record were classified according to the Nova system.

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Background: Comprehensive research evidence is lacking on the role of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in the relationship between the consumption of plant-sourced foods and their impact on cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes. This study aims to assess CVD risk associated with the dietary contribution of food groups that consider both plant or animal origin and food processing categories, within a large cohort of British adults.

Methods: Data from the UK Biobank participants (40-69 y) who completed at least two 24-h dietary recalls between 2009 and 2012 (n = 126,842; median follow-up: 9 y), with subsequent data linkage to hospital and mortality records, were used.

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Background: Ultra-processed foods have been associated with several negative outcomes, but it is not clear whether they are related to bullying perpetration. Moreover, no previous study has investigated the potential role of deviant behaviors as a mediator of this association. Our objective was to evaluate the association between ultra-processed dietary pattern and bullying, and the mediating effect of deviant behaviors in this association, among school adolescents.

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The objective of this study was to describe the evolution of household purchase of added sugars and their main food sources in Brazil. Nationally representative data from the Household Budget Surveys from 2002-2003, 2008-2009 and 2017-2018 were used. Energy and added sugar quantities were estimated by means of per capita food quantities.

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Article Synopsis
  • Excessive sodium intake in Brazil is a significant public health concern, with household consumption rising from 3.9g to 4.7g per 2,000 calories between 2002-2018, exceeding recommended levels.
  • The study analyzed food purchase records from Brazilian households over three periods (2002-2003, 2008-2009, and 2017-2018) to identify dietary sources of sodium using the NOVA food classification system.
  • While processed culinary ingredients like table salt remain the largest source of sodium, their contribution decreased by 17%, while sodium from processed and ultra-processed foods significantly increased during the same period.
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Purpose: Ultra-processed food may play a role in facilitating snacking behavior because of their convenience and low satiety potential. This study aimed to describe the association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and frequency of snacking.

Methods: We analyzed data from 46,164 participants (≥ 10 years old) in the 2017-2018 Brazilian Household Budget Survey.

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Background: Global trends toward childhood obesity have been associated with several factors, including suboptimal infant feeding practices, the increasing availability of ultraprocessed foods in the world's food supply, and the corresponding changes in children's dietary patterns.

Objective: To describe infants' dietary patterns and assess their associations with weight status outcomes in a nationally representative sample of US infants.

Design: Cross-sectional analyses were performed on data collected from infants participating in the 2009-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

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Objective: This study evaluated the independent and combined environmental impacts of the consumption of beef and ultra-processed foods in Brazil.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Brazil.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to explore how body fat affects the link between ultra-processed food consumption and the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC) and oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.
  • Analyzing data from over 450,000 participants over an average of 14 years showed that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods increased the risk of both cancers, with specific metrics (body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio) accounting for a small percentage of this risk.
  • The findings suggest a need for more research to understand the potential mechanisms behind the association between ultra-processed food intake and cancer risk, as the role
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We aimed to investigate and compare the distribution of establishments that sell food near municipal, state, and private schools in the municipality of São Paulo, Brazil. This cross-sectional, exploratory, and census study was conducted in 3,121 schools. Circular buffers were traced around schools and concentrations or dispersions of food stores (in absolute numbers and densities) were analyzed.

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Objective: Evaluate changes in the Brazilian population's diet and its determinants during the covid-19 pandemic.

Methods: We used diet data collected by the Datafolha Institute in 2019 (n = 1,384), 2020 (n =1,214), and 2021 (n = 1,459) from independent and representative samples of the adult population (aged 18 to 55 years) from all socioeconomic classes and geographic regions of Brazil. Food consumption was measured by checking the consumption of 22 sets of food on the day before the survey.

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Objective: This paper describes the first web-based self-completed 24-h recall designed to categorise food intake according to Nova groups - Nova24h - and its agreement with a reference tool in estimating the dietary relative contribution of the four Nova food groups (% of total energy intake).

Design: Comparisons of estimates of dietary relative contributions of Nova groups obtained by Nova24h and one standard interviewer-led 24-h recall.

Setting: Nationwide adult cohort study in Brazil.

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Objective: To assess the prospective association of two diet quality scores based on the Nova food classification with BMI gain.

Design: The NutriNet-Brasil cohort is an ongoing web-based prospective study with continuous recruitment of participants aged ≥ 18 years since January 2020. A short 24-h dietary recall screener including 'yes/no' questions about the consumption of whole plant foods (WPF) and ultra-processed foods (UPF) was completed by participants at baseline.

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The analysis of food using a perspective centred on nutrients seems inadequate for understanding the dietary transition and its impact on the growth of obesity and chronic diseases. Industrial food processing is now proposed as the key to explain the relationship between food and health. The NOVA food classification considers the degree and the purpose of food processing, which includes physical, biological and chemical processes used after foods are separated from nature, and before being consumed or prepared as dishes and meals.

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Objective: To evaluate sociodemographic factors associated with the consumption of ultra-processed foods and the temporal evolution of their consumption in Brazil between 2008 and 2018.

Methods: The study used food consumption data of individuals aged ≥ 10 years from 2008-2009 and 2017-2018 Pesquisas de Orçamentos Familiares (POF - Household Budget Surveys), grouping the foods according to the Nova classification. We used crude and adjusted linear regression models to assess the association between sociodemographic characteristics and consumption of ultra-processed foods in 2017-2018 and the temporal variation in their consumption between 2008 and 2018.

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This study is to identify victimization patterns and analyze the association between the experience of polyvictimization and overweight or obesity among adolescent girls and boys. The sample consisted of 2680 Brazilian ninth-graders enrolled in public and private schools, taken from the São Paulo Project for the social development of children and adolescents (SP-PROSO). Victimization was explored in two ways: (i) as per Finkelhor and (ii) by latent class analysis (LCA).

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Background: Food processing has been hypothesised to play a role in cancer development; however, data from large-scale epidemiological studies are scarce. This study investigated the association between dietary intake according to amount of food processing and risk of cancer at 25 anatomical sites using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

Methods: This study used data from the prospective EPIC cohort study, which recruited participants between March 18, 1991, and July 2, 2001, from 23 centres in ten European countries.

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