American children now get nearly 70% of their calories from “ultra-processed” foods

A depressing new report reveals that children and teens are eating even more ultra-processed foods than they were 20 years ago, with these foods now making up more than two-thirds of their diets.

Ultra-processed foods are heavily spoiled, with many added ingredients like fats, starches, sugars, food colors and stabilizers. These added components can make food look different, taste different, or extend its shelf life compared to minimally processed foods which are almost eaten as they occur naturally. (In other words, no donut is a minimally processed food.) Eaten in excess, these foods are linked to obesity, heart disease, and ultimately mortality. But in the United States we have a fabric dependence.

There are different definitions of what constitutes ultra-processed food, but the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has a Classification system. Ultra-processed foods are not created the same; part of this processing fortifies foods with additional nutrients, although many processes strip foods of fiber and protein and replace them with sugar and salt. New research on the consumption of ultra-processed foods by young people is published today in JAMA magazine.

Researchers examined the eating habits of American children between the ages of 2 and 19, using 10 cycles of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This survey is a CDC-organized health studies program that to take stock of many diseases and health indicators, including nutrition, in approximately 5,000 American adults and children each year. They found that in 2018, 67% of total calorie intake among children and youth reportedults came from ultra-processed foods, up from 61% in 1999. the number was also not good; Apparently eating habits are retreating from bad to worse.) This calorie peak was further broken down by the research team: 11.2% of total calorie consumption. The second biggest jump was in packaged snacks and desserts, which rose from 10.6% to 12.9% of total consumption. Calories from minimally processed foods fell from 28.8% to 23.5% of the total diet.

On the plus side, calories from sugary drinks halved, from 10.8% to 5.3% of total calories.

The team found no significant difference in the consumption of ultra-processed foods between economic groups or parental education levels. “The absence of disparities based on parental education and family income indicates that ultra-processed foods are ubiquitous in children’s diets,” said Fang Fang Zhang, nutrition epidemiologist at Tufts University and co. -author of the study, in a university. Press release. “This finding confirms the need for researchers to more fully track food consumption trends, taking into account the consumption of ultra-processed foods.”

More: New Diet Study Confirms Your Worst Suspicions About Ultra-Processed Foods