Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37070567›Full record

Trial reportPediatric obesity2023

Ultra-processed food consumption and BMI-Z among children at risk for obesity from low-income households.

William J Heerman, Nadia M Sneed, Evan C Sommer, Kimberly P Truesdale, Donna Matheson, Tracy E Noerper, Lauren R Samuels, Shari L Barkin

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Pediatric obesity, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Emotional eating behaviour and obesity in adolescents: a cross-sectional survey in Taizhou, China.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

William J HeermanDepartment of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9706-6860
Nadia M SneedDepartment of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9973-6672
Evan C SommerDepartment of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Kimberly P TruesdaleDepartment of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Donna MathesonStanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
Tracy E NoerperLipscomb University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Lauren R SamuelsDepartment of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7273-5626
Shari L BarkinVirginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.

Funding

UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CLINICAL NUTRITION RESEARCH UNITP30DK056350 · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 1999 to 2025
$5.9M
AHRQ HHS T32 HS026122NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000445NHLBI NIH HHS R03 HL154243NHLBI NIH HHS U01 HL103620NIDDK NIH HHS P30 DK056350
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo evaluate the association between baseline ultra-processed food consumption in early childhood and child BMI Z-score over 36 months.

methodsWe conducted a prospective cohort analysis as a secondary data analysis of the Growing Right Onto Wellness randomised trial. Dietary intake was measured via 24-h diet recalls. The primary outcome was child BMI-Z, measured at baseline and at 3-, 9-, 12-, 24- and 36-month timepoints. Child BMI-Z was modelled using a longitudinal mixed-effects model, adjusting for covariates and stratifying by age.

resultsAmong 595 children, median (Q1-Q3) baseline age was 4.3 (3.6-5.0) years, 52.3% of the children were female, 65.4% had normal weight, 33.8% were overweight, 0.8% were obese and 91.3% of parents identified as Hispanic. Model-based estimates suggest that, compared with low ultra-processed consumption (300 kcals/day), high ultra-processed intake (1300 kcals/day) was associated with a 1.2 higher BMI-Z at 36 months for 3-year-olds (95% CI = 0.5, 1.9; p < 0.001) and a 0.6 higher BMI-Z for 4-year-olds (95% CI = 0.2, 1.0; p = 0.007). The difference was not statistically significant for 5-year-olds or overall.

conclusionsIn 3- and 4-year-old children, but not in 5-year-old children, high ultra-processed food intake at baseline was significantly associated with higher BMI-Z at 36-month follow-up, adjusting for total daily kcals. This suggests that it might not be only the total number of calories in a child's daily intake that influences child weight status, but also the number of calories from ultra-processed foods.

Indexed as

Food, ProcessedObesityBody Mass IndexChild, PreschoolDietEnergy IntakeFast FoodsFemaleHumansMaleProspective Studieschildhood obesitycohort studynutritionracial and ethnic minority groupsultra-processed foods

Identifiers

PMID37070567
PMCPMC10434975

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.