Table 2.
The distribution of calories, sodium, saturated fat, total sugars, free sugars, fibre and protein per 100 g (or 100 mL) in each category of the NOVA and Poti et al. food processing classification systems, presented for the total sample of packaged food and beverage products (n = 17,269) 1.
| Nutritional Composition per 100 g/mL | NOVA | Poti et al. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U/MP 2 | PCI 3 | P 4 | UP 5 | U/MP 2 | BPI 6 | PBP 7 | MPF 8 | MPG 9 | HPI 10 | HPS 11 | ||
| Calories (kcal) | Mean (SD) | 215 (188) | 521 (291) | 219 (177) | 254 (172) | 226 (218) | 391 (326) | 216 (173) | 247 (193) | 320 (75) | 228 (183) | 260 (166) |
| Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | |
| 25th | 48 | 300 | 64 | 100 | 41 | 48 | 48 | 80 | 250 | 80 | 110 | |
| Median | 138 | 600 | 186 | 240 | 132 | 360 | 167 | 200 | 316 | 200 | 255 | |
| 75th | 356 | 800 | 350 | 400 | 360 | 800 | 356 | 376 | 367 | 333 | 400 | |
| Max | 760 | 1382 | 1060 | 1163 | 900 | 942 | 1382 | 1060 | 533 | 1163 | 670 | |
| Sodium (mg) | Mean (SD) | 26 (83) | 2013 (6203) | 521 (744) | 477 (1070) | 34 (101) | 550 (3839) | 20 (65) | 668 (2329) | 288 (213) | 1105 (2290) | 360 (346) |
| Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 25th | 0 | 0 | 100 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 33 | 224 | 95 | |
| Median | 5 | 0 | 365 | 304 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 230 | 300 | 500 | 296 | |
| 75th | 24 | 13 | 679 | 533 | 38 | 8 | 14 | 600 | 460 | 933 | 492 | |
| Max | 2100 | 40,000 | 8796 | 33,000 | 2100 | 40,000 | 1067 | 36,000 | 667 | 33,000 | 3,378 | |
| Saturated fat (g) | Mean (SD) | 1 (3) | 12 (21) | 5 (7) | 4 (6) | 2 (4) | 9 (19) | 1 (3) | 5 (8) | 1 (1) | 3 (5) | 4 (6) |
| Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 25th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Median | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 75th | 1 | 15 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 6 | |
| Max | 57 | 100 | 48 | 94 | 60 | 100 | 57 | 94 | 5 | 50 | 50 | |
| Total sugars (g) | Mean (SD) | 5 (10) | 21 (36) | 5 (13) | 14 (18) | 8 (19) | 13 (29) | 5 (5) | 10 (19) | 3 (5) | 17 (23) | 12 (15) |
| Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 25th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Median | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 5 | |
| 75th | 7 | 25 | 4 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 27 | 19 | |
| Max | 81 | 114 | 88 | 260 | 90 | 114 | 22 | 111 | 22 | 260 | 100 | |
| Free sugars (g) 1 | Mean (SD) | 2 (6) | 19 (36) | 2 (8) | 12 (17) | 3 (16) | 13 (29) | 2 (4) | 7 (15) | 1 (3) | 15 (22) | 11 (15) |
| Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 25th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Median | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | |
| 75th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 21 | 15 | |
| Max | 81 | 114 | 87 | 143 | 90 | 114 | 16 | 111 | 17 | 143 | 100 | |
| Fibre (g) | Mean (SD) | 4 (6) | 2 (7) | 2 (3) | 2 (3) | 6 (8) | 2 (5) | 2 (3) | 2 (4) | 9 (6) | 1 (4) | 2 (3) |
| Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 25th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Median | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | |
| 75th | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 2 | 3 | |
| Max | 100 | 90 | 40 | 43 | 100 | 50 | 40 | 40 | 27 | 90 | 43 | |
| Protein (g) | Mean (SD) | 8 (8) | 4 (9) | 12 (10) | 6 (7) | 9 (9) | 3 (7) | 7 (7) | 10 (10) | 10 (3) | 2 (3) | 7 (7) |
| Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| 25th | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 3 | |
| Median | 7 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 6 | |
| 75th | 13 | 1 | 21 | 9 | 16 | 1 | 13 | 18 | 12 | 3 | 10 | |
| Max | 77 | 67 | 64 | 50 | 57 | 67 | 77 | 64 | 20 | 33 | 50 | |
1 Distributions of free sugars exclude products without an ingredients list as free sugars could not be estimated (n = 433). Free sugars were estimated for the remaining 16,836 products with an ingredients list. 2 U/MP: unprocessed or minimally-processed products; 3 PCI: processed culinary ingredients. 4 P: processed foods. 5 UP: ultra-processed food and drink products. 6 BPI: basic processed ingredients. 7 PBP: processed for basic preservation. 8 MPF: moderately processed for flavour. 9 MPG: moderately processed grain products. 10 HPI: highly processed ingredients. 11 HPS: highly processed stand-alone.