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The Italian food environment may confer protection from hyper-palatable foods: evidence and comparison with the United States

Fazzino, Tera L.
; 
Summo, Carmine
; 
Pasqualone, Antonella
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Abstract
Background Multi-national food corporations may saturate country-level food systems with hyper-palatable foods. However, the degree to which global food corporations have been integrated into country-level food systems may vary. Italy has largely retained local food production and may have low hyper-palatable food (HPF) availability in the food supply. The study quantified the prevalence of HPF in the Italian food system and compared the hyper-palatability of similar foods across Italy and the United States, which has wide HPF saturation. Methods A national food system dataset was used to characterize HPF availability in Italy. A representative sample of foods commonly consumed in both Italy and the US were collected and compared. Foods represented six categories: cookies/biscotti, cakes/merendine, salty snacks, industrial bread, frozen pizza and protein/cereal bars. A standardized definition from Fazzino et al. identified HPF. Results Less than one third (28.8%) of foods in the Italian food system were hyper-palatable. US HPF items had significantly higher fat, sugar, and/or sodium across most food categories (p values = 0.001 to 0.0001). Italian HPF items had higher fiber and/or protein relative to US HPF from the same category (p values = 0.01 to 0.0001). Conclusion The Italian food system may confer protection from HPF exposure. HPF products in Italy had lower palatability-related nutrients and higher satiety-promoting nutrients.
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Date
2024-04-17
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Frontiers Media
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Psychology Scholarly Works
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Keywords
Food environment, Carbohydrate, Fat, Sodium, Sugar, Fiber
Citation
Fazzino TL, Summo C, Pasqualone A. The Italian food environment may confer protection from hyper-palatable foods: evidence and comparison with the United States. Front Nutr. 2024 Apr 17;11:1364695. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1364695. PMID: 38694228; PMCID: PMC11061459
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1808/35449
DOI
10.3389/fnut.2024.1364695
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