[Perspectives] Carlos A Monteiro: pioneer of research on ultra-processed foods

The world has witnessed many research giants in nutrition. Carlos A Monteiro, Emeritus Professor of Nutrition and Public Health at the School of Public Health, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and Founder of the USP Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, is easily among them. In 2009, Monteiro and his team coined the term ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and went on to develop the Nova food classification system, which groups foods according to their processing. Nova paved the way for robust, comparative research on the health impacts of UPFs.