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Mechanisms of Ultra-Processed Foods and Health Outcomes

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2026 | Viewed by 74

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Postgraduate Degree in Nutrition (PPGNUT), Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), Maceió 57072-970, AL, Brazil
Interests: nutrition; obesity; diet; randomized controlled trials; meta-analysis; metabolism

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Guest Editor
Department of Nutrition, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa 58051-900, PB, Brazil
Interests: gut microbiota; probiotics; nutrition; arterial hypertension; metabolic disease; translational studies
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Guest Editor
Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology de Alagoas, Satuba Campus, Satuba, Brazil
Interests: ultra-processed food; food technology; adolescents; dietary habits

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Observational evidence increasingly demonstrates that the intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is associated with poorer human health. However, the number of intervention studies investigating this topic is still small. The most recent experimental evidence points to a higher ad libitum energy intake and lower intake rate (in kcal/minute) of UPF, both being associated with weight gain in individuals subjected to diets rich in these products, in a controlled environment. There is also some evidence that such diets may affect the fasting plasma concentration of hunger hormones. Nevertheless, the exact mechanism of how these products lead to such outcomes still deserves further investigation, and it is also important to investigate which characteristics of these products are responsible for their deleterious effects on human health. Hence, we are proposing this Special Issue. We expect to collate intervention studies that investigate the impact of UPF on several outcomes such as, but not limited to, intestinal microbiota; physical activity and exercise; satiety hormones outside the fasting state; and studies that investigate which aspects of UPF, other than their macronutrient composition, such as their non-beverage energy density, texture/softness, and presence of food additives such as flavor enhancers and emulsifiers, are responsible for their deleterious effects on health.

This Special Issue of Nutrients entitled “Mechanisms of Ultra-Processed Foods and Health Outcomes” welcomes original research and reviews of the literature concerning this important topic.

Prof. Dr. Nassib B. Bueno
Prof. Dr. José Luiz de Brito Alves
Prof. Dr. Ingrid S. V. de Melo
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • ultra-processed foods
  • clinical trials
  • mechanisms
  • chronic diseases
  • intervention studies

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