Table 2.
Dietary contribution of ultra-processed foods according to sociodemographic variables
| Variables | % of energy intake from ultra-processed foods | |
| Crude mean (95% CI) | Adjusted mean† (95% CI) | |
| Gender | ||
| Male | 58.4 (57.6 to 59.1) | 58.3 (57.6 to 59.0) |
| Female | 58.6 (57.9 to 59.4) | 58.8 (58.1 to 59.5) |
| Age group | ||
| 2–9 | 65.2 (64.3 to 66.1) | 65.9 (65.0 to 66.8) |
| 10–19 | 66.7 (65.9 to 67.5) | 66.8 (65.9 to 67.7) |
| 20–39 | 59.0 (58.0 to 60.1) | 59.5 (58.7 to 60.3) |
| 40–59 | 55.2 (54.0 to 56.3) | 55.2 (54.1 to 56.4) |
| ≥60 | 53.5 (52.5 to 54.4)* | 52.8 (51.9 to 53.7)* |
| Education‡ | ||
| Less than high school | 59.0 (57.9 to 60.0) | 59.5 (58.4 to 60.6) |
| High school | 59.9 (59.2 to 60.6) | 59.7 (59.1 to 60.3) |
| College or higher | 55.4 (54.2 to 56.8)* | 55.9(54.6 to 57.2)* |
| Family income-to-poverty ratio§ | ||
| ≤1.30 | 61.1 (60.0 to 62.2) | 59.6 (58.6 to 60.7) |
| 1.31–1.50 | 58.9 (57.9 to 59.9) | 58.7 (57.8 to 59.7) |
| >1.50 | 56.8(55.9 to 57.8)* | 57.7 (56.9 to 58.6)* |
| Ethnicity | ||
| Non-Hispanic white | 59.2 (58.4 to 60.1) | 60.2 (59.4 to 60.9) |
| Non-Hispanic black | 62.1 (61.1 to 63.3) | 60.6 (59.7 to 61.5) |
| Mexican-American | 57.7 (56.7 to 58.8) | 54.8 (53.2 to 56.3) |
| Other Hispanic | 53.3 (51.5 to 55.1) | 52.0 (50.3 to 53.7) |
| Other | 49.9 (47.7 to 52.2) | 49.6 (47.3 to 51.8)* |
US population aged ≥2 years (NHANES 2007–2012).
*P for linear trend <0.05.
†Adjusted for all the other variables in the table.
‡For individuals under 25 years, the education of the household head was considered.
§Income-to-poverty ratios represent the ratio of family or unrelated individual income to their appropriate poverty threshold. Categories based on SNAP eligibility.38
NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.