The healthfulness of the US packaged food and beverage supply: A cross-sectional study

Abigail S. Baldridge; Mark D. Huffman; Fraser Taylor; Dagan Xavier; Brooke Bright; Linda V. Van Horn; Bruce Neal; Elizabeth Dunford

doi:10.3390/nu11081704

The healthfulness of the US packaged food and beverage supply: A cross-sectional study

Abigail S. Baldridge^*, Mark D. Huffman, Fraser Taylor, Dagan Xavier, Brooke Bright, Linda V. Van Horn, Bruce Neal, Elizabeth Dunford

^*Corresponding author for this work

Preventive Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

47 Scopus citations

Abstract

The US food supply is dominated by highly-processed packaged food and beverage products that are high in energy, saturated fat, sugar, and salt. We report results of a cross-sectional assessment of the 2018 US packaged food and beverage supply by nutritional composition and indicators of healthfulness and level of processing. Data were obtained through Label Insight’s Open Data database, which represents >80% of all food and beverage products sold in the US over the past three years. Healthfulness and the level of processing, measured by the Health Star Rating (HSR) system and the NOVA classification framework, respectively, were compared across product categories and leading manufacturers. Among 230,156 food and beverage products, the mean HSR was 2.7 (standard deviation (SD) 1.4) from a possible maximum rating of 5.0, and 71% of products were classified as ultra-processed. Healthfulness and level of processing varied substantially by category (range: HSR 1.1–3.9; 0–100% ultra-processed) and manufacturer (range: HSR 0.9–4.6; 26–100% ultra-processed). The US packaged food and beverage supply is large, heterogeneous, highly processed, and generally unhealthy. The wide variability in healthfulness and level of processing demonstrates that opportunities exist, through reformulation or replacement, for large-scale improvements to the healthfulness of the US packaged food and beverage supply.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	1704
Journal	Nutrients
Volume	11
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081704
State	Published - 2019

Funding

Conflicts of Interest: MDH has received funding from the World Heart Federation to serve as its senior program advisor for the Emerging Leaders program, which has been supported by Boehringer Ingelheim and Novartis with previous support from BUPA and AstraZeneca. MDH has also received funding from the American Medical Association for editorial activities. DX is the Co-Founder at Label Insight. BB and DX are employees at Label Insight. Funding: Funding has been provided by the American Heart Association, Verily, and AstraZeneca through the One Brave Idea TM program, the JR Alberts Foundation, and Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UL1RR025741). has been provided by the American Heart Association, Verily, and AstraZeneca through the One Brave IdeaTM program, the JR Alberts Foundation, and Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UL1RR025741).

Keywords

Food supply
Health star rating
NOVA classification
Nutrient profiling
Processed food

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Food Science
Nutrition and Dietetics

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10.3390/nu11081704

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abstract = "The US food supply is dominated by highly-processed packaged food and beverage products that are high in energy, saturated fat, sugar, and salt. We report results of a cross-sectional assessment of the 2018 US packaged food and beverage supply by nutritional composition and indicators of healthfulness and level of processing. Data were obtained through Label Insight{\textquoteright}s Open Data database, which represents >80% of all food and beverage products sold in the US over the past three years. Healthfulness and the level of processing, measured by the Health Star Rating (HSR) system and the NOVA classification framework, respectively, were compared across product categories and leading manufacturers. Among 230,156 food and beverage products, the mean HSR was 2.7 (standard deviation (SD) 1.4) from a possible maximum rating of 5.0, and 71% of products were classified as ultra-processed. Healthfulness and level of processing varied substantially by category (range: HSR 1.1–3.9; 0–100% ultra-processed) and manufacturer (range: HSR 0.9–4.6; 26–100% ultra-processed). The US packaged food and beverage supply is large, heterogeneous, highly processed, and generally unhealthy. The wide variability in healthfulness and level of processing demonstrates that opportunities exist, through reformulation or replacement, for large-scale improvements to the healthfulness of the US packaged food and beverage supply.",

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The healthfulness of the US packaged food and beverage supply: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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