New Ultra-Processed Food Database Ranks 50,000 Products at Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods: “There Are a Lot of Mixed Messages”

GroceryDB, a novel database of more than 50,000 food items available at major US retailers like Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods, evaluates how processed each item is and assigns a “processing score.” The platform not only highlights the extent to which ultra-processed foods (UPFs) dominate supermarket shelves but also empowers consumers to make healthier dietary choices by providing transparent and detailed nutritional information.

Ultra-processed foods have become ubiquitous in the modern food supply. According to a 2022 study, approximately 58 percent of the calories consumed by Americans come from UPFs. These foods are defined by their high levels of industrial additives, preservatives, and low nutritional content, often containing excessive amounts of sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats.

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While convenient and typically inexpensive, diets rich in UPFs have been linked to a wide range of health problems, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even certain cancers.

“There are a lot of mixed messages about what a person should eat. Our work aims to create a sort of translator to help people look at food information in a more digestible way,” Giulia Menichetti, PhD, an investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a statement.

“By creating a system of scoring processed food, consumers don’t have to be overwhelmed with excessive and challenging information to be able to eat healthier.”

The researchers behind GroceryDB developed the FPro algorithm, a machine-learning tool that analyzes ingredient lists and nutrition labels to determine a food’s processing score. The higher the score, the more processed the item is. By using artificial intelligence to streamline data collection and analysis, the researchers were able to evaluate tens of thousands of food items efficiently.

The results are accessible to the public through the TrueFood platform, which features detailed information on processing levels, nutrition facts, and ingredient breakdowns for each product.

In addition to providing transparency for individual consumers, GroceryDB offers insights into broader trends in the food industry. The study revealed that while Whole Foods tends to offer more minimally processed items, the majority of products across all three major retailers—Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods—are still ultra-processed.

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In certain categories, such as cereals, soups, and snacks, consumers had little to no access to less processed alternatives. For example, cereals at Walmart and Target scored consistently high on the FPro scale, leaving health-conscious shoppers with few options. Even at Whole Foods, known for its focus on natural and organic products, ultra-processed foods remained prevalent in certain categories.

“When people hear about the dangers of ultra-processed foods, they ask, ‘OK, what are the rules? How can we apply this knowledge?’” Menichetti said. “We are building tools to help people implement changes to their diet based on information currently available about food processing. Given the challenging task of transforming eating behaviors, we want to nudge them to eat something that is within what they currently want but a less-processed option.”

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Beyond individual health, ultra-processed foods also have a significant environmental impact. The production of UPFs involves extensive use of energy, water, and synthetic chemicals, contributing to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. A 2021 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) highlighted that the processing and packaging of industrial food products are major contributors to global carbon emissions. By contrast, minimally processed foods often require fewer resources and generate less waste, making them a more sustainable choice.

“People can use this information, but our goal would be to push this to become a large-scale, data-driven tool to improve public health,” Menichetti said. “Most research activities in nutrition still depend on manual curation, but our study shows that artificial intelligence and data science can be used to scale up.”

“This initiative not only lays the groundwork for similar efforts globally, but also underscores the critical role of open-access, internationally comparable data in advancing global nutrition security with the goal of ensuring that everyone has access to health food options in their daily activities,” she continued.

The findings come as another recent study found a diet high in saturated fats and added sugar has been linked to impulsivity and poor self-control. The research, published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience suggests that a high-fat diet during adolescence could lead to long-term changes in behavior, including increased impulsivity and altered decision-making in adulthood. Consuming foods high in fat, such as UPFs, led to impaired motor control and safer choices in decision-making tasks as adults. Further analysis revealed genetic differences in brain regions associated with behavior and changes in gut metabolism linked to neurological outcomes.