Investigating the Relationship Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Academic Performance in the Adolescent Population: The EHDLA Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants and Study Design
2.2. Procedures
2.2.1. Ultra-Processed Food Consumption (Independent Variable)
2.2.2. Academic Performance (Dependent Variable)
2.2.3. Covariates
2.2.4. Justification for the Covariates Selected
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
UPF | Ultra-processed food |
EHDLA | Eating Healthy and Daily Life Activities |
FFQ | Food frequency questionnaire |
SUN | Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra |
GPA | Grade point average |
FAS-III | Family Affluence Scale-III |
BMI | Body mass index |
YAP-S | Spanish Youth Activity Profile |
IQR | Interquartile range |
GLM | Generalized linear model |
n | Participants |
M | Marginal means |
CI | Confidence interval |
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Variable | N = 788 1 |
---|---|
Age (years) | 14.0 (13.0, 15.0) |
Sex | |
Boys | 352 (44.7%) |
Girls | 436 (55.3%) |
FAS-III (score) | 8.0 (7.0, 10.0) |
BMI (kg/m2) | 21.6 (19.3, 25.3) |
YAP-S sedentary behaviors (score) | 2.6 (2.2, 3.0) |
YAP-S physical activity (score) | 2.6 (2.2, 3.0) |
Overall sleep duration (minutes) | 497.1 (458.6, 527.1) |
Energy intake (kcal) | 2589.7 (1963.6, 3440.8) |
UFP (g) | 235.0 (151.1, 380.7) |
UFP (servings) | 4.0 (2.9, 6.0) |
GPA (score) | 6.3 (4.7, 7.7) |
Language (score) | 7.0 (5.0, 8.0) |
Maths (score) | 6.0 (4.0, 8.0) |
Foreign language (score) | 6.0 (5.0, 8.0) |
GPA | Language | Maths | English | |
---|---|---|---|---|
UPF Consumption Status | M (95% CI) | M (95% CI) | M (95% CI) | M (95% CI) |
Low | 6.6 (6.4 to 6.9) a | 7.0 (6.7 to 7.3) a | 6.2 (5.9 to 6.5) a | 6.6 (6.4 to 6.9) a |
Medium | 6.4 (6.1 to 6.7) a | 6.7 (6.4 to 7.0) a | 6.0 (5.7 to 6.4) a | 6.6 (6.3 to 6.9) a |
High | 5.6 (5.4 to 5.9) | 6.0 (5.7 to 6.3) | 5.2 (4.9 to 5.6) | 5.7 (5.5 to 6.0) |
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López-Gil, J.F.; Cisneros-Vásquez, E.; Olivares-Arancibia, J.; Yañéz-Sepúlveda, R.; Gutiérrez-Espinoza, H. Investigating the Relationship Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Academic Performance in the Adolescent Population: The EHDLA Study. Nutrients 2025, 17, 524. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17030524
López-Gil JF, Cisneros-Vásquez E, Olivares-Arancibia J, Yañéz-Sepúlveda R, Gutiérrez-Espinoza H. Investigating the Relationship Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Academic Performance in the Adolescent Population: The EHDLA Study. Nutrients. 2025; 17(3):524. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17030524
Chicago/Turabian StyleLópez-Gil, José Francisco, Emily Cisneros-Vásquez, Jorge Olivares-Arancibia, Rodrigo Yañéz-Sepúlveda, and Héctor Gutiérrez-Espinoza. 2025. "Investigating the Relationship Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Academic Performance in the Adolescent Population: The EHDLA Study" Nutrients 17, no. 3: 524. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17030524
APA StyleLópez-Gil, J. F., Cisneros-Vásquez, E., Olivares-Arancibia, J., Yañéz-Sepúlveda, R., & Gutiérrez-Espinoza, H. (2025). Investigating the Relationship Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Academic Performance in the Adolescent Population: The EHDLA Study. Nutrients, 17(3), 524. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17030524