In 2010, Dr. Carlos Monteiro, a Brazilian epidemiologist and the scientific coordinator of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center at the University of São Paulo, gained international recognition for creating the NOVA classification . This classification, despite its initial lack of rigorous mathematical or randomized study basis, brought global attention to the concept of ultraprocessed foods, significantly influencing nutrition and public health while causing unease in the food industry.
During the International Congress on Obesity in São Paulo, Monteiro shared the latest supporting evidence for his classification alongside Dr. Kevin Hall, a senior investigator from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Maryland, who initially approached the concept with skepticism. Monteiro explained NOVA's categorization of foods by processing levels:…
