Carlos A. Monteiro
@CMonteiro_USP
@carlos-monteiro.bsky.social. Emeritus Prof, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo. Researcher, USP Center for Epi Studies in Health and Nutrition.
Building on NutriNet Santé, NutriNet Brasil—now with 90K participants answering the first questionnaire—is the 2nd-largest web-based diet & health cohort, and the 1st to assess intake by processing level, aligned with Nova. A few papers out, more coming! bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7/e…
In this letter, Phil Baker & I argue that while targeting all UPFs may be unrealistic in the US/UK—where UPFs already dominate the food supply—broad UPF policies are both feasible and urgently needed in Southern Europe, Asia, Africa & Latin America to prevent the same outcome.
Timely editorial by @TheLancetEndo highlights urgent need for policies on ultra-processed foods (UPFs). In this correspondence @CMonteiro_USP and me agree, adding that policies targeting ultra-processed diets as a whole are both realistic and urgent—especially in regions not yet…
New report backed by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group — the world’s seventh-largest bank with US$2.8 trillion in assets—explains in detaill why UPFs pose major risks to food sector investors, and urges them to push companies to cut reliance on these products planet-tracker.org/health-global-…
Hot off the press! Our new Nature Reviews Endocrinology paper, led by the brilliant Filippa Juul, takes a holistic look at UPF and obesity—combining historical, epidemiological, mechanistic & policy perspectives, plus a deep dive into biological mechanisms rdcu.be/ev8Fz
More evidence that the consumption of UPFs negatively impacts every organ in our body: now linked to female infertility in a representative sample of the American population (with previous studies in Spain and Italy showing links to male infertility). link.springer.com/article/10.118…
From the outstanding Moli-sani cohort investigators: "High adherence to a traditional Mediterranean diet + low UPF intake improved survival and reduced non-cancer mortality. Guidelines should stress cutting UPFs to fully unlock the MD’s health benefits". clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-…
I wonder whether my peers in the U.S., affiliated with the American Society for Nutrition — in addition to Marion — are aware of this shameful situation. foodpolitics.com/2025/06/indust…
I couldn’t agree more!!!
So much of the science about the harms of ultra-processed foods has come from female scientists especially in the global south. They’re changing how the world understands what food really is? Beautiful piece by the amazing @finney_clare scribehound.com/food/science-s…
UPFs are the ultimate expression of fossil-fueled food systems—born from commodity crops grown with fossil-fueled agrochemicals, harvested with fossil-fueled machinery, shaped by energy-intensive processing, wrapped in plastic, and shipped around the world.ipes-food.org/report/fuel-to…
Incredibly important—at least for the U.S., I think. nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
The American College of Lifestyle Medicine now recommends emphasizing Nova Group 1 (unprocessed or minimally processed foods) and minimizing/avoiding Nova Group 4 (UPFs) to prevent and manage type 2 diabetes—endorsed by 8 other U.S. medical associations. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…
Join the call to #KickBigSodaOut and promote health!
🚨 NEW @bmj_latest op-ed by @DoctorChrisVT + @CMonteiro_USP: “Big Soda isn’t just sponsoring football. It’s embedding sugary drinks into global sport—at the expense of public health.” The authors call on FIFA to drop Big Soda before the 2025 Club World Cup begins tomorrow.…
After Brazil, Colombia, Senegal & India, Ecuador becomes the 5th country with a validated 2–3 min Nova24h screener—enabling Nova UPF score calculation, one of four WHO/FAO/UNICEF-recommended metrics to monitor healthy diets globally. cambridge.org/core/journals/…
Want to know how Brazil uses the NOVA food classification & UPF concept? This paper breaks it down and shares Brazil recent trends in UPF consumption. scielosp.org/pdf/rbepid/202…
Great Lancet editorial on UPFs—except the claim that policies targeting all UPFs are unrealistic due to their vast number. Maybe true in UK/US, where UPFs dominate. But in most countries, real food still prevails—or UPFs are just starting to rise. Yet! thelancet.com/journals/landi…
UPF science is evolving. High-UPF diets show distinct blood & urine metabolomic profiles—matching known harms. Biomarkers may soon track UPF exposure & deepen our understanding of how UPFs cause disease. Yet policy action still lags. journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/a…
Innovative UK adult cohort trajectory study found that a sustained high intake of UPF over a decade was associated with an increased risk of CVD and CHD over a 16-year follow-up period. Authors recommend UPF regulation and review of dietary guidelines. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40350408/
New study (Am J Prev Med) in 8 countries estimated that 3.9% (Colombia) to 13.7% (USA) of all premature deaths (ages 30-69 y) are due to UPF consumption—more than 100,000 deaths annually in the United States alone. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Excellent review on how UPF consumption may impact neuropsychiatric health—exploring the underlying mechanisms. mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/7…
A welcome AJCN editorial calls for more efforts to quantify and understand the most important risk factors for the rapidly increasing incidence of chronic conditions at younger ages, including exposure to UPFs and the compounds added to them. ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-…
