Sugar, Fat, and Ultra-Processed Foods: Decoding the Dietary Drivers of Pediatric Obesity
A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2026 | Viewed by 112
Special Issue Editors
Interests: pediatric nutrition; dietary behaviors; sugar intake; public health nutrition; nutrition education; school and preschool nutrition; screen time
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: pediatric nutrition; childhood obesity; dietary patterns in children; fertility diet; metabolic programming
Interests: nutrition during pregnancy and lactation; children nutrition; dietary habits; nutrition and cognitive functions; infant development; bioactive compounds; dietary supplements; diet-related chronic diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Pediatric obesity is one of today’s most urgent public health challenges, with dietary factors playing a key role from early childhood. Evidence increasingly links excessive sugar intake, high-fat dietary patterns, and the rising consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to metabolic disturbances, unhealthy weight gain, and long-term health risks among children and adolescents. Despite growing awareness, important gaps remain regarding mechanisms, exposure pathways, behavioral determinants, and effective prevention strategies.
With this Special Issue, “Sugar, Fat, and Ultra-Processed Foods: Decoding the Dietary Drivers of Pediatric Obesity,” we invite researchers and practitioners to share new evidence that advances our understanding of how modern dietary patterns influence children’s weight, metabolism, and long-term well-being. We particularly encourage the submission of studies examining dietary behaviors, food environments, interventions, and policy approaches that aim to reduce obesity risk.
Your contributions will help shape actionable, evidence-based strategies to improve children’s nutrition and support healthier futures. We welcome you to submit your work and join us in this important scientific dialogue.
Dr. Joanna Myszkowska-Ryciak
Dr. Aneta Czerwonogrodzka-Senczyna
Prof. Dr. Jadwiga Hamułka
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- childhood obesity
- dietary risk factors
- sugar intake
- free sugars
- high-fat diets
- ultra-processed foods (UPFs)
- food environment
- dietary patterns in children
- early-life nutrition
- obesogenic behaviors
- screen time and diet
- nutrition education
- prevention of childhood obesity
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