Research

Energy balance

High consumption of energy-dense nutrient-poor (EDNP) foods (salty snacks, cookies, candy) contributes as many daily kilojoules as sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) in low-income Southern US populations, meaning interventions targeting only SSB may fail to reduce total energy intake if EDNP consumption remains high.

If you are trying to cut calories, don't just stop drinking soda. In low-income communities, salty snacks, cookies, and candy contribute just as many calories as sugary drinks. To see real results, you need to reduce both sugary beverages AND energy-dense nutrient-poor foods.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
EDNP foods likely contribute as many daily kilojoules as SSB among this population. Future campaigns should aim to limit the consumption of all EDNP foods.
Deborah A. Cohen et al. · Public Health Nutrition · 2019

Why this rating

Large sample size (n=14,771) and rigorous statistical modeling, though it is a cross-sectional survey relying on self-report.

Source

High consumption of energy-dense nutrient-poor foods among low-income groups in the Mississippi Delta and Alabama

Deborah A. Cohen et al. · Public Health Nutrition · 2019

DOI 10.1017/s1368980019002817

cross_sectional · n=14771Cited 5×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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