The Study
Ultra-processed food intake is associated with a displacement of the traditional diet of Costa Rican adolescents.
This study looked at what kids in one city in Costa Rica ate in a few days and found that kids who ate more junk food also ate less of their traditional healthy foods. But it didn’t watch them over time, so we don’t know if the junk food caused the bad diet or if kids who already liked less healthy food just ate more junk.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at what kids in Costa Rica eat and found that the more snacks like chips and soda they eat, the less they eat healthy traditional foods like beans and rice.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 544 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — this means kids eating lots of snacks are missing out on important nutrients and eating less of the healthy foods their culture traditionally values.
- 2Kids ate 35.9% of their calories from ultra-processed snacks, mostly in the morning.
- 3For every 10% more snack food they ate, their healthy diet score dropped by 0.44 points.
- 4High snack eaters got 43.9% of calories from UPF; low snack eaters got only 29.9%.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Nutrition research
Year
2025
Authors
Kenny Mendoza, R. Monge-Rojas, Rulamán Vargas-Quesada, J. Mattei
Related Content
Claims (6)
Adolescents who follow the traditional Costa Rican diet more closely consume less ultra-processed food, with those most adherent getting nearly 14 percentage points less energy from ultra-processed foods than those least adherent.
In Costa Rican adolescents, the majority of ultra-processed foods are eaten as snacks, with most consumed in the morning and a large portion consumed during all snack times, showing that when and how they snack is a major reason for their high intake of these foods.
In Costa Rican teens aged 13 to 18, eating more ultra-processed foods is linked to lower adherence to the traditional Costa Rican diet, with each 10% increase in ultra-processed food intake corresponding to a 0.44-point drop on a standardized diet quality score.
Among Costa Rican teenagers aged 13 to 18, ultra-processed foods provide 35.9% of their daily calorie intake, and this intake is higher in girls, people living in cities, and those from wealthier families.
Costa Rican adolescents who eat more ultra-processed foods have diets lower in fiber and essential nutrients and higher in added sugars and trans fats, which align with dietary patterns linked to obesity.
People who eat cheese tend to live longer because their diet includes fewer ultra-processed foods and refined carbohydrates.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.