> we introduce GroceryDB, a database with over 50,000 food items sold by Walmart, Target, and Wholefoods, unveiling the degree of processing characterizing each food. GroceryDB indicates that 73% of the US food supply is ultra-processed, and on average ultra-processed foods are 52% cheaper than minimally-processed alternatives. We find that the nutritional choices of the consumers, translated as the degree of food processing, strongly depend on the food categories and grocery stores. We show that there is no single nutrient or ingredient "bio-marker" for ultra-processed food, allowing us to quantify the individual contribution of over 1,000 ingredients to ultra-processing. GroceryDB and the associated https://www.TrueFood.tech website make this information available, aiming to simultaneously empower consumers to make healthy food choices, and aid policy makers to reform the food supply.
> we introduce GroceryDB, a database with over 50,000 food items sold by Walmart, Target, and Wholefoods, unveiling the degree of processing characterizing each food. GroceryDB indicates that 73% of the US food supply is ultra-processed, and on average ultra-processed foods are 52% cheaper than minimally-processed alternatives. We find that the nutritional choices of the consumers, translated as the degree of food processing, strongly depend on the food categories and grocery stores. We show that there is no single nutrient or ingredient "bio-marker" for ultra-processed food, allowing us to quantify the individual contribution of over 1,000 ingredients to ultra-processing. GroceryDB and the associated https://www.TrueFood.tech website make this information available, aiming to simultaneously empower consumers to make healthy food choices, and aid policy makers to reform the food supply.
Machine Learning Prediction of Food Processing (2021), https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.22.21257615
GroceryDB: Prevalence of Processed Food in Grocery Stores (2022), https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.23.22274217