Miliku lab finds early childhood UPF intake reflects the convergence of family behaviours and structural features of the built environment
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A new study led by Dr. Kozeta Miliku, assistant professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, has found that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods in early childhood is associated with increased behavioural and emotional difficulties later in childhood.
Published in Nature Communications Medicine, the study draws on data from the CHILD Cohort Study and examines ultra-processed food intake at age three in relation to behavioural outcomes at age five using standardized measures of emotional and behavioural functioning.
The findings show that higher intake of ultra-processed foods—including sugar-sweetened beverages, packaged snacks, and ready-to-heat meals—was associated with higher scores for anxiety, fearfulness, aggression, hyperactivity, and overall behavioural difficulties. The research also explored factors associated with higher ultra-processed food consumption in early childhood, highlighting important social and environmental influences.
“In Canada, nearly half of children’s daily energy intake is derived from ultraprocessed foods,” said lead author Sara Mousavi, a former undergraduate student in the Miliku lab at the University of Toronto. “This is very concerning, because higher consumption of these foods has been associated with poorer physical and mental health in children and adolescents. In this study, we sought to understand why some children consume more ultraprocessed foods than others, in the hope that we might identify factors that could be changed to give these children a better start.”
Co-author Howard Chen noted that broader contextual factors must be considered when interpreting dietary patterns in children. “It also bears noting that, within these patterns of ultraprocessed food consumption, an equity dimension may be at play,” he said.
Dr. Miliku emphasized that children’s diets are shaped by multiple intersecting influences. “Altogether, these findings show that early-life diet is shaped by both family and the environment children grow up in,” said senior author Dr. Kozeta Miliku, Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and Clinical Science Officer for CHILD.
Ultra-processed foods—industrial formulations made largely from refined ingredients and additives—are widely consumed in Canada and account for a substantial proportion of energy intake among young children. While the associations observed are modest at the individual level, the authors note that they may have meaningful implications at the population level.
The study highlights the importance of understanding not only the health impacts of ultra-processed food consumption, but also the structural and social factors that shape early dietary patterns, in order to inform more equitable and effective public health strategies.
