{"id":127577,"date":"2025-08-07T23:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T23:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/127577\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T23:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T23:29:08","slug":"americans-get-55-of-their-calories-from-ultra-processed-foods-cdc-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/127577\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans get 55% of their calories from ultra-processed foods, CDC report says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Americans on average get more than half of their calories from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/ultra-processed-foods-health-30-year-study\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ultra-processed foods<\/a>, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/products\/databriefs\/db536.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">report<\/a> released Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The report says the average percentage of total calories consumed from ultra-processed foods among those aged 1 and older was 55% from August 2021 to August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Young people, aged 1 to 18 consumed even higher amounts at 61.9%, compared to adults aged 19 and older at 53%. No significant differences were found between males and females, but low-income adults consumed more ultra-processed foods than those with higher incomes.<\/p>\n<p>The report described <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/minnesota\/news\/what-are-ultra-processed-foods-and-are-they-bad-for-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ultra-processed foods<\/a> as those that tend to be energy-dense, low in fiber and contain little or no whole foods, while also being high in salt, sweeteners and unhealthy fats.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the top sources of calories from ultra-processed foods among youth and adults included:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sandwiches, including burgers<\/li>\n<li>Sweet bakery products<\/li>\n<li>Savory snacks<\/li>\n<li>Sweetened beverages\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For young people, pizza also ranked among the ultra-processed food sources. And for adults, breads, rolls and tortillas made the list.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The report comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/junk-food-fda-rfk-maha\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">targeted ultra-processed foods<\/a> as part of his &#8220;MAHA,&#8221; or &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/food-dyes-fda-phase-out-products\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Make America Healthy Again<\/a>,&#8221; agenda.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/32792031\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Previous research<\/a> has shown ultra-processed food is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.<\/p>\n<p>Research published in The BMJ journal last year found higher exposure to ultra-processed food is associated with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/ultra-processed-food-health-issues-cancer-early-death-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">32 damaging health outcomes<\/a>, including higher risk for cancer, major heart and lung conditions, gastrointestinal issues, obesity, type 2 diabetes, sleep issues, mental health disorders and early death.<\/p>\n<p>Other studies have also pointed to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/boston\/news\/ultra-processed-foods-could-be-as-addictive-as-smoking-study-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">addictive quality<\/a> of many processed foods. An\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/video\/ultra-processed-how-food-tech-consumed-the-american-diet-cbs-reports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">CBS Reports&#8217; investigation<\/a>\u00a0on how ultra-processed foods have become so pervasive in the American diet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Most dietary guidelines, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dietaryguidelines.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2021-03\/Dietary_Guidelines_for_Americans-2020-2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dietary Guidelines for Americans<\/a>, 2020-2025, recommend eating a variety of whole foods and limiting intake of foods with added sugars,&#8221; the report states.<\/p>\n<p>\n        More from CBS News\n      <\/p>\n<p>      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/sara-moniuszko\/\" class=\"content-author__name\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sara  Moniuszko<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"content-author__text\">Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper&#8217;s wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News&#8217; HealthWatch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Americans on average get more than half of their calories from\u00a0ultra-processed foods, according to a Centers for Disease&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":127578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[17993,47305,210,1182,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-127577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention","9":"tag-food-amp-drink","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-nutrition","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114990085828413152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}