Food systems and supplies are transforming into a global industrial system, with corresponding changes in the production, distribution, and consumption of food. As shown by time series on annual food sales available in 81 countries, including Brazil, the most conspicuous change has been the increase in the supply and consumption of ultra-processed foods. In Brazil, national household surveys on food purchases have documented, since the 1980s, the displacement of fresh and minimally processed foods and their culinary preparations as dishes and meals by ultra-processed foods.
Given the evidence on the harmful health effects of ultra-processed foods and other factors, such as the negative impact that their production has on the environment, dietary guidelines in Brazil, other Latin American countries, France, Israel, and Malaysia state in their recommendations that the consumption of ultra-processed foods should be reduced or avoided. This paper is based on studying the association between ultra-processed food consumption and carbon and water footprints of the Brazilian diet
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