Americans get more than half their calories from ultra-processed foods, CDC report says
Nutrition research has shown for years that ultra-processed foods make up a big chunk of the U.S. diet, especially for kids and teens.
For the first time, however, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed those high levels of consumption, using dietary data collected from August 2021 to August 2023.
The report comes amid growing scrutiny of such foods by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who blames them for causing chronic disease.
'We are poisoning ourselves and it's coming principally from these ultra-processed foods,' Kennedy told Fox News earlier this year.
Overall, about 55% of total calories consumed by Americans age 1 and older came from ultra-processed foods during that period, according to the report. For adults, ultra-processed foods made up about 53% of total calories consumed, but for kids through age 18, it was nearly 62%.
The top sources included burgers and sandwiches, sweet baked goods, savory snacks, pizza and sweetened drinks.
Young children consumed fewer calories from ultra-processed foods than older kids, the report found. Adults 60 and older consumed fewer calories from those sources than younger adults. Low-income adults consumed more ultra-processed foods than those with higher incomes.
The results were not surprising, said co-author Anne Williams, a CDC nutrition expert.
What was surprising was that consumption of ultra-processed foods appeared to dip slightly over the past decade. Among adults, total calories from those sources fell from about 56% in 2013-2014 and from nearly 66% for kids in 2017-2018.
Williams said she couldn't speculate about the reason for the decline or whether consumption of less processed foods increased.
But Andrea Deierlein, a nutrition expert at New York University who was not involved in the research, suggested that there may be greater awareness of the potential harms of ultra-processed foods.
'People are trying, at least in some populations, to decrease their intakes of these foods,' she said.
Concern over ultra-processed foods' health effects has been growing for years, but finding solutions has been difficult. Many studies have linked them to obesity, diabetes and heart disease, but they haven't been able to prove that the foods directly cause those chronic health problems.
One small but influential study found that even when diets were matched for calories, sugar, fat, fiber and micronutrients, people consumed more calories and gained more weight when they ate ultra-processed foods than when they ate minimally processed foods.
Research published this week in the journal Nature found that participants in a clinical trial lost twice as much weight when they ate minimally processed foods — such as pasta, chicken, fruits and vegetables — than ultra-processed foods, even those matched for nutrition components and considered healthy, such as ready-to-heat frozen meals, protein bars and shakes.
Part of the problem is simply defining ultra-processed foods.
The new CDC report used the most common definition based on the four-tier Nova system developed by Brazilian researchers that classifies foods according to the amount of processing they undergo. Such foods tend to be 'hyperpalatable, energy-dense, low in dietary fiber and contain little or no whole foods, while having high amounts of salt, sweeteners and unhealthy fats,' the CDC report said.
U.S. health officials recently said there are concerns over whether current definitions 'accurately capture' the range of foods that may affect health. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department recently issued a request for information to develop a new, uniform definition of ultra-processed foods for products in the U.S. food supply.
In the meantime, Americans should try to reduce ultra-processed foods in their daily diets, Deierlein said. For instance, instead of instant oatmeal that may contain added sugar, sodium, artificial colors and preservatives, use plain oats sweetened with honey or maple syrup. Read food packages and nutrition information, she suggested.
'I do think that there are less-processed options available for many foods,' she said.
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I wrote a recent op-ed that is in STAT News where I talked about this. As leaders, we have to be responsible with what we're saying and how we're saying it. We have to understand people are listening. And when you call the CDC a cesspool, when you say I will hold people responsible, when you make claims that have been proven false time and time again about safety and efficacy of vaccines, that can cause unintended consequences. And so while I don't know Secretary Kennedy personally, and I don't want to make, make assertions about his character, I will say based on his actions and his rhetoric he is, he's adding, he's fanning the flames that lead to situations like we saw at the CDC. MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about health policy, because days earlier, Secretary Kennedy made an announcement that the U.S. is halting $500 million for vaccine research into that technology known as mRNA. You're very familiar with it because it was used during Operation Warp Speed to very quickly get that COVID vaccine. Secretary Kennedy said, though, mRNA vaccines quote, "don't work against upper respiratory infections." Do you know what he means? And what does stopping this research do for pandemic preparations? DR. ADAMS: Well, that- that's simply not true. We know that- that by the most conservative estimates, over 2 million lives have been saved because of mRNA technology. It helped us develop COVID-19 vaccines in record time. And it's, quite frankly, President Trump's greatest achievement. It's fascinating to me that in this conversation about whether he should receive the Nobel Prize for something, the thing that he should be considered for the Nobel Prize for, his health secretary is trying to undermine. For folks who may not be familiar, though, Margaret, mRNA stands for messenger mRNA, it's a natural molecule that's in all of our bodies. It's like a recipe card that tells your body how to make a protein. And this idea, again, helps us develop vaccines and new treatments for everything from cancer, melanoma, which my wife has, to HIV, to better flu vaccines, and Zika. The- these are advances that are not going to happen now. People are going to die because we're cutting short funding for this technology. MARGARET BRENNAN: It's interesting you talk about President Trump's great achievement there, because he was asked by my colleague, Nancy Cordes, about Operation Warp Speed, and this is what he said this week. Take a listen. [BEGIN SOUND ON TAPE] DONALD TRUMP: Operation Warp Speed was, whether you're Republican or Democrat, considered one of the most incredible things ever done in this country. The efficiency, the- the way it was done, the distribution, everything about it was- has been amazing. [END SOUND ON TAPE] MARGARET BRENNAN: What would have happened in 2020 if we didn't have mRNA vaccines? DR. ADAMS: If we did not have mRNA vaccines, the best experts at the time, Bill Gates, Tony Fauci, were saying it would have taken at least 18 to 24 additional months to get a vaccine. The record before that, Margaret, was six years to get a vaccine using the technology that Secretary Kennedy said he wants to go back to, whole virus technology. And so, as I mentioned, by the most conservative estimates, at least 2 million lives were saved. Many people say that up to 20 million lives were saved because of the vaccines. It is President Trump's greatest achievement, bar none. MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Bill Cassidy, who I think you know, Republican, a doctor, he voted for Secretary Kennedy's confirmation, said it's "unfortunate the Secretary just canceled a half a billion dollars worth of work, wasting the money which is already invested," in other words, not getting it back. And he said it's "conceding to China this important technology." Here's the thing, Secretary Kennedy did say, mN- mN- excuse me, Secretary Kennedy did say this technology is helpful against cancers. Can you have it both ways? Can you stop the investment but then still take the parts of it and sort of preserve that? DR. ADAMS: Well, that's a great question, and it's absolutely the case that you cannot denigrate mRNA technology. Even if you do develop a new technology for other areas, people aren't going to trust it. There aren't- they aren't going to take it. And the way research works is that a lot of what we've learned about mRNA technology, and developing the COVID vaccines, has led to the excitement, the innovation, the advancements, which now present opportunities for cancer. So it risks stalling process- progress in many of the most promising areas of modern medicine. MARGARET BRENNAN: Dr. Adams, thank you for your time this morning. DR. ADAMS: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And if you have questions about vaccines, talk to your doctor, because unfortunately, our current secretary is not spreading information that is knowledgeable, that's appropriate, and that is- not fanning the flames that cause situations like happen- happened at the CDC. MARGARET BRENNAN: Dr. Adams, I appreciate your time. We'll be back in a moment.
