Rapid Fire Oral Presentation 49th Nutrition Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2025

Ultra-processed food narratives in social media forum posts: a content analysis of Reddit threads (129999)

Emily Denniss 1 , Patricia R De Melo 1 , Katherine Sievert 2 , Cherie Russell 2 , Priscila Machado 1
  1. Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
  2. Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

Ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is growing nearly everywhere, including in Australia(1). Ultra-processed dietary patterns are associated with chronic disease and contribute to environmental degradation(2, 3). The UPF concept is novel and has gained increased media and public attention in recent years. Despite this, research investigating the public’s perceptions regarding UPFs is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to explore Reddit forum discussions about UPFs to identify the main topics of discussion and examine how UPFs are portrayed. A qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the ‘top’ threads from the r/ultraprocessedfood subreddit, a global Reddit community dedicated to discussing UPFs, with over 34,000 subscribers. Data were collected in January 2025. A coding framework was developed deductively, and codes were informed by literature that uses a food systems lens to discuss UPFs(2-4) to capture a comprehensive range of issues related to UPF, including their impacts and causal mechanisms. The framework included codes to represent UPF-related topics that were discussed: health; planetary health; social inequities; culture; political economy; food system; dietary patterns; food; and nutri-biochemical. Coding was undertaken by two researchers in NVivo. Fifty threads comprised of a total of 2,730 comments were collected and analysed. The most frequently discussed topic was food (n = 45 (90%) threads, n = 1188 (43.5%) comments), followed by dietary patterns (n = 37 (74%) threads, n = 415 (15.2%) comments), health (n = 43 (86%) threads, n = 404 (14.8%) comments), food system (n = 34 (68%) threads, n = 323 (11.8%) comments) and nutri-biochemical (n = 34 (68%) threads, n = 322 (11.8%) comments). The least discussed topic was planetary health, which was coded to 13 (26%) threads and 25 (0.9%) comments. Comments under the most coded topic, food, often contained information or questions about specific foods being UPF or non-UPF, tips and food swaps for avoiding UPFs. Discussion of “UPF-free” or “low UPF” cooking, food preparation, meal ideas and grocery shopping was also common, with users sharing helpful information and offering support. Comments under the second-most coded topic, dietary patterns, discussed the practicalities of consuming a diet with no or minimal UPFs, with many users stating that it is unfeasible to consume a diet completely free of UPFs. The third-most common topic, health, often discussed health impacts linked to ultra-processed dietary patterns or described personal health outcomes users attributed to their UPF intake. Overall, Reddit posts discussed a broad range of topics related to UPFs. Support forums and promotion of cooking may be a useful tool to support reductions in UPF consumption. Environmental health was rarely discussed and is an important facet of ultra-processed dietary patterns for future public health messaging to address.  

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  2. Anastasiou K, Baker P, Hendrie GA et al. (2023) Glob Food Sec 37.
  3. Monterio CA, Cannon G, Moubarac JC et al. (2018) Public Health Nutr 21:5-17.
  4. Scrinis G & Monterio CA (2022) Nat Food 3:671-673.