Data
Year of publication
2020
Type
Quantitative
Design
Cross-sectional
Classification
NOVA, other (NutriScore)
Country studied
Spain
Data
Primary
Data Collected
Food samples
Study setting
Laboratory
Age group of participant
N/A
Participant sex
N/A
Target population
General
Sample size
n=53 (breakfast cereals)
Association between heat-induced chemical markers and ultra-processed foods: A case study on breakfast cereals
Goal
Investigate the link between the degree of processing as described by the international NOVA food classification system and the occurrence of heat-induced chemical markers in breakfast cereals.
Results
No statistically significant differences in acrylamide and HMF were found across the NutriScore groups. Sugar content was the only nutritional descriptor found to be significantly different between processed (11.6 g/100 g) and ultra-processed (23.1 g/100 g) breakfast cereal groups. Sugar content correlated with acrylamide (p < 0.001) and HMF (p < 0.0001). Acrylamide and HMF contents were not significantly higher in the NOVA-4 group when compared with the NOVA-3 group. However, trends towards higher acrylamide and HMF content are observed, amounting to a change of 75 µg/kg and 13.3 mg/kg in processed breakfast cereals, and 142 µg/kg and 32.1 mg/kg in ultra-processed breakfast cereals, respectively.
Authors
Morales FJ, Mesías M, Delgado-Andrade C.
Journal
Nutrients
DOI