Impacto do consumo de alimentos ultraprocessados na saúde materno-infantil: revisão sistemática

Abstract

The consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) has had a negative impact on the quality of the diet, increasing the risk of health problems and diseases related to overweight in the adult population. Despite this, there is still little evidence that studies the impact of this consumption on maternal and child health. The objective of this study was to evaluate, from the literature, the existence of an impact of the consumption of ultra-processed foods on the health of pregnant women, lactating women and children. A systematic review registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (CRD42021236633) was performed, following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Metanalysis (PRISMA), in the PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, Scielo and CAPES directory. The eligibility criteria adopted were: a) to present food consumption by the NOVA classification, b) to be observational studies developed with the population of pregnant women, lactating women or infants/children; and c) analysis of health outcomes (nutritional and diseases) associated with UPF consumption. All data were analyzed and extracted into a structured spreadsheet by two independent reviewers. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (Rob 2). The searches retrieved 8.294 studies and 24 met the eligibility criteria. Most of the included studies were cohorts (n=14, 58.3%), had pregnant women as a population (n=13, 54.2%) and only two studies evaluated UPF consumption in neonates and lactating women. Panoramicly, it was observed that the greater participation of UPA in the diet of the populations studied has been associated with different maternal and child outcomes, such as increased weight gain and measures of adiposity, impaired intrauterine growth, lower cognitive development, effects on satiety, greater early weaning, poorer diet quality, metabolic alterations (high glycemic levels and CRP), asthma, caries, symptoms of depression, probable inadequacy in the composition of breast milk and the presence of toxic substances originating from the packaging. Only two of the included studies did not show high methodological quality.