Assessment of construct validity and reliability of the Canadian Ultra-Processed Product Screener.

Abstract

Objective: The Canadian Ultra-Processed Product Screener (CUPS) was developed to rapidly assess ultra-processed food (UPF) and drink product intake among Canadian adults. The CUPS is an online self-administered screener that includes twenty-eight questions and assesses the intake of a variety of UPF available in Canada, both in French and English. This study aimed to assess the construct validity and reliability of the CUPS among a sample of adults in Canada.

Design: Cross-sectional study (between July and November 2023).

Settings: Participants completed the online CUPS screener in three versions (1-d (twice), 7-d and 30-d CUPS) and three 24-h dietary recalls (24HR) (the reference measure) over the course of 26-28 d.

Participants: 354 Canadians aged 18-60 years.

Results: The CUPS had an acceptable construct validity, with moderate correlation coefficients between the CUPS score and UPF consumption level measured using multiple 24HR (from 0·33 to 0·44). Reproducibility was also acceptable (intraclass correlation = 0·61) and internal consistency ranged from good to excellent (Cronbach's α = 0·72 for the 1-d and 0·86 for the 30-d CUPS). CUPS scores were also associated with higher intake of added sugars, saturated fats and Na.

Conclusions: This study provides evidence supporting the construct validity and reliability of the CUPS among Canadian adults. The CUPS is useful for identifying low and high consumers of UPF and could serve as a proxy measure for one key dimension of diet quality, which is the type of food processing.