Date of Award

January 2024

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

School of Public Health

First Advisor

Suzi Ruhl

Second Advisor

Stephen Wood

Abstract

This thesis highlights the interdependent mechanisms and impact of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in relation to health, environment, and justice. It calls attention to the need for UPF policy that establishes synergistic interventions targeting issues across domains and proposes policy mechanisms as an illustrative example of how to achieve this. The intention of this thesis is not to motivate different consumer choices or to tell individuals to avoid UPFs. Rather than targeting consumers, UPF policy needs to hold food corporations responsible for the impact of the products that they’re creating and profiting from, and governments need to have more responsibility for effectively mitigating those impacts through equitable policy. To be both effective and equitable, UPF policy mechanisms must move beyond nutrition and consumer choice and consider frameworks that account for the multidimensional impact of UPFs across domains of health, environment, and justice. UPF policy is not sufficiently prioritized in food system dialogue, and current policy frameworks for UPFs are inadequate for systems-level change. There are opportunities to address this at the federal and state level across branches of government. This thesis is intended to be a resource for practitioners and policy makers to understand the consequences of UPFs across health, environment, and justice, and to be equipped with a conceptual framework and tangible policy mechanisms that address UPF impact across these domains. This thesis consists of (1) an introduction that provides essential background for later sections and summarizes the thesis purpose, (2) a review and synthesis of existing literature on the health, environmental, and justice-related impacts and mechanisms of UPFs, (3) a proposed conceptual framework for integrating these three domains across mechanisms and impacts, and (4) policy mechanism recommendations based on the findings and proposed conceptual framework, categorized by policy goal and by level and branch of government.

Comments

This is an Open Access Thesis.

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