Post-Bariatric Nutrition Epidemiology: Ultra-Processed Foods, Healthy Eating Indices, and Longitudinal Patient Outcomes

Metabolic and bariatric surgery can produce major early weight loss and cardiometabolic benefits, yet many patients face later challenges such as weight recurrence, loss-of-control eating, and reduced quality of life. From 2023–2025, research attention has shifted from “what patients should eat” to what they actually eat in daily life—especially the role of ultra-processed foods (often assessed via NOVA classification), overall dietary quality (e.g., healthy eating indices), and the psychological drivers that shape eating after surgery. In parallel, the academic dialogue has intensified around food addiction–like symptoms, stigma, mood disorders, and the need for integrated, long-term models of nutritional and mental health care. These themes align strongly with clinical nutrition, nutrition epidemiology, and nutrition, psychology and brain health—and raise timely questions for policy, access, and equity.This Research Topic will advance nutritional epidemiology on how ultra-processed food exposure (NOVA) and overall diet quality—and their psychosocial determinants—relate to long-term weight trajectories and patient-centered outcomes after bariatric surgery. We welcome original research, clinical trials, and contemporary reviews that move beyond short follow-up windows and capture real-world eating contexts.Key themes of interest include:• Ultra-processed food intake patterns post-surgery (timing, dose, substitution effects) and links to weight recurrence• Dietary quality, protein and fiber adequacy, and food environment constraints (cost, access, convenience)• Food addiction, craving, reward processes, and loss-of-control eating after bariatric surgery• Mental health (depression, anxiety, binge eating, stigma) as predictors, mediators, or outcomes of dietary behavior• Interventions and implementation: counseling models, digital tools, behavioral therapies, and policy-relevant approaches to sustain long-term outcomes Topic editors: André Eduardo Silva Júnior, Nassib Bueno, Mateus Macena Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78735/post-bariatric-nutrition-epidemiology-ultra-processed-foods-healthy-eating-indices-and-longitudinal-patient-outcomes