Study concludes higher consumption of highly processed foods is associated with lower quality of diet in young people in JapanResearchers performed a study to quantify highly processed food consumption and to investigate its association with diet quality among Japanese children and adolescents. Highly processed foods accounted for over one-fourth of the total energy intake amongst youths.
It's common knowledge that poor-quality diets are considered major risk factors for many health issues and even noncommunicable diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. Therefore, researchers seek to understand factors related to diet quality as a way to improve people's health. Research on HPFs has been rapidly increasing, highlighting their potential impact on public health.
This probably doesn't come as a surprise to many, but it's important to note that this is the first time hard data has been put to this specific demographic, and that fact might aid in improving public health. One of the difficulties in research on diets is that so many of the issues lack precise definitions. For this reason, Shinozaki and her team picked an existing dietary classification framework developed by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the U.S.
What might surprise some readers is that the cliché of Japan's national diet being the model of healthy eating is a little inaccurate and out of date.