Overview
- Researchers found that each 10% increase in calories from ultra-processed foods at age three corresponded with higher internalizing, externalizing, and total difficulty scores at age five.
- Sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages showed the strongest associations, as did ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat items such as fries and boxed macaroni and cheese.
- In modeled scenarios, replacing 10% of energy from ultra-processed foods with minimally processed options was associated with lower behavior scores.
- The study drew on the CHILD Cohort Study and was published in JAMA Network Open with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and a Temerty Faculty of Medicine grant.
- Authors emphasize public-health relevance as these products make up nearly half of Canadian preschoolers' calories, while critics stress the observational design, parent-reported data, and definitional choices that preclude causal claims.