DETERMINANTS AND OUTCOMES OF HIGH VS. LOW ULTRA-PROCESSED FEEDING

The overall goalof this project is to characterize if and how individuals are able to minimize their consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in free-living conditions, and to use these data to develop an empirically-driven educational phone application ("app") to support individuals in decreasing UPF consumption and improving overall eating patterns and biomarkers of chronic disease risk. The central hypothesis informing this work is that individuals will achieve decreases in their consumption of UPF in response to intervention, but will report challenges in doing so related to social and environmental influences. The following objectives will test this hypothesis:Objective 1. Determine the impact of attempted consumption of a minimally processed diet on adherence to the United States Dietary Guidelines for Americans (i.e., HEI), eating behavior, energy balance, downstream health outcomes, and tendency toward obesity over time. Objective 2. Conduct a mixed methods evaluation to understand facilitators and barriers central to successfully or unsuccessfully adopting a minimally processed diet among rural, underserved, and/or food insecure adults.Objective 3. Develop and conduct a user-centered evaluation of a consumer-friendly resource/instructional tool to facilitate the consumption of a minimally processed diet.