ArticlePeerJ2025
Ultra-processed food consumption is linked to quality of life and mental distress among university students.
Article in PeerJ, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Domain-Specific Quality of Life in Postmenopausal Women: Associations with Mobility and Mental Health.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Ultra-processed food consumption, hedonic hunger, and sleep quality among university students: a food and nutrition literacy perspective.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The Association of Unhealthy Eating Behaviors with Sleep Quality Outcomes Among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.Nutrients · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are industrial formulations that typically contain little or no whole foods and are often high in added sugars, unhealthy fats, and sodium. Research indicates that higher intake of UPFs correlates with lower overall diet quality, which can exacerbate mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. This study aimed to assess the associations between UPF consumption with health-related quality of life, and mental distress in university students. Method: This cross-sectional study consisted of 595 students resident in Samsun/Türkiye. The data were collected face-to-face with a questionnaire. Linear regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the UPFs (% energy), health-related quality of life components and mental distress score (MDS). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to establish the optimal threshold levels regarding physical component summary (PCS12), mental component summary (MCS12) and MDS. Results: The UPF ratios were negatively related to PCS12 (β = -0.112, Conclusion: Increased consumption of UPFs is associated with a decrease in physical quality of life and an increase in mental distress. Consuming more than 40% from UPFs can lead to mental and physical problems. There is a need for strategies to decrease the intake of UPFs to enhance both physical and mental wellbeing.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
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.