Low diet quality has been associated with high consumption of highly processed foods. An effective educational campaign should aim at replacing ultra-processed foods by minimally processed and unprocessed foods. The objective of this study was to explore the understanding of young consumers of the term ultra-processed foods. A study was carried out with 181 young consumers from two different countries (Argentina and Ecuador). They were asked to explain what they understood by ultra-processed foods and to list foods they considered ultra-processed. Text and content analysis were conducted on participant's responses. Participants understand ultra-processed foods as those highly processed containing many artificial ingredients. The un-natural and unhealthful dimension was also stressed on their definitions. The most relevant food items that elicit the term ultra-processed foods were processed meats, soft drinks, and canned products. However, some food items not considered ultra-processed (meat, milk, ingredients) were misclassified as ultra-processed foods. This implies that a clear definition of the term ultra-processed food should be included in any strategy aimed at curbing today's high consumption of ultra-processed foods.

中文翻译：

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探索年轻消费者对“超加工食品”一词的理解。

低饮食质量与高加工食品的大量消费有关。有效的教育运动应旨在以最少加工和未加工的食品代替超加工食品。这项研究的目的是探讨年轻消费者对超加工食品一词的理解。对来自两个不同国家（阿根廷和厄瓜多尔）的181位年轻消费者进行了一项研究。他们被要求解释他们对超加工食品的理解，并列出他们认为超加工的食品。对参与者的回答进行了文本和内容分析。参与者将超加工食品理解为高度加工的食品，其中包含许多人造成分。他们的定义也强调了不自然和不健康的方面。引起“超加工食品”一词的最相关食品是加工肉类，软饮料和罐头产品。但是，一些未被认为是超加工食品（肉，牛奶，配料）被误分类为超加工食品。这意味着，在旨在遏制当今超加工食品大量消费的任何策略中，都应包括对超加工食品一词的明确定义。