Background
Diet plays a critical role in shaping the health and well-being of both individuals and populations. Healthy, safe, sustainable diets help to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. The level of processing of foods as a modulator of health is currently a topic of great interest.
Processing of food is chemical or mechanical manipulation often carried out to make foods edible, increase their storage potential, or enhance safety, and basic forms such as milling (of grains, rice or corn), brining and curing has been practiced by humans for millennia. Methods and applications have evolved greatly with the development of new technologies however, such that many foods found on supermarket shelves today have undergone substantial transformations that substantially modify the food matrix and may contain food additives or other industrial substances. Consumption of such highly processed or “ultra-processed” foods has been associated with a myriad of negative health effects.
To review currently available evidence and provide much-needed, evidence-based global guidance on this important topic, WHO has brought together experts from all over the globe, with a wide range of relevant expertise and diverse perspectives to serve in a guideline development group (GDG) that will develop a guideline on the consumption of ultra-processed foods. Experts were identified via an open call and outreach to WHO Regional Offices and other relevant networks. The composition of the GDG is provisional and will be reviewed and confirmed by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee. The names and brief, self-reported biographies of the individuals selected to be part of the GDG are also being published for public notice and comment.
Terms of reference for the GDG
Comments will be accepted through 30 November 2025.
Comments and perceptions brought to the knowledge of WHO through this process are an integral component of WHO’s Conflicts of Interest assessment policy as to strengthen public trust and transparency in connection with WHO meetings involving the provision of technical/normative advice. Comments and perceptions will be carefully reviewed and treated confidentially. The comments will not be published and will be kept on record.
WHO reserves the right to discuss information received through this process with the relevant expert with no attribution to the provider of such information. Upon review and assessment of the information received through this process, WHO, in its sole discretion, may take appropriate management action in accordance with its policies.
The participation of an expert in a WHO meeting does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the World Health Organization nor does it create a binding relationship between the expert and WHO. The list of participating experts, a summary of relevant interests disclosed by such experts, and any appropriate mitigation measures taken by WHO relating to the management of conflicts of interests, will be reported publicly (in the guideline document) in accordance with WHO practice.
Questions regarding the public notice and comment should be addressed to [email protected]