The Food We Eat: This Is Ridiculous!

It seems impossible, but more than half the calories in our diet come from ultra-processed food. We eat more fake food than real food!

Recent data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that for people above the age of one, 55% of our total calories come from ultra-processed foods. This number is astonishing when you consider that ultra-processed foods are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.

In our fast-paced world so influenced by advertising and convenience, ultra-processed foods are filling a greater space on our menus. But it’s almost unbelievable that more than half of our diet is ultra-processed foods. They may be fast, they may be easy, and they may be addictively tasty, but they may also be killing you.

Ultra-processed foods are a growing group of foods, including packaged foods, soft drinks, instant noodles, and ready-made meals. They may be quick and convenient to prepare, but they also have little real or whole food in them. They are low in fiber, healthy fats and vitamins and minerals, and way too high in calories, salt, sugar, refined carbs, and saturated fat.

Our processed food obsession is associated with obesity, cholesterol problems, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, and cancer.

The data revealed that for kids who are between 1 and 5, total calories from ultra-processed food make up 56.1% of the diet. For kids aged 6-11, it is 64.8%. In the 12-18 group, it is 63%.

For adults, the numbers are a little better. In the 19-39 group, ultra-processed foods make up 54.4% of total calories. Between the ages of 40 and 59, the number is 52.6%. In the over-60 group, it’s 51.7%.

The worst offenders for kids are sandwiches/burgers at 7.6% of total calories, sweet bakery products at 6.3%, savory snacks at 4.9%, pizza at 4.7% and sweetened beverages at 3.9%.

For adults, they’re sandwiches/burgers at 8.6%, sweet bakery products at 5.2%, sweetened beverages at 4.4%, savory snacks at 3.4% and breads, rolls, and tortillas at 3.1%.

These numbers are scary news for kids. Micronutrients are especially important for kids. Deficiency is an important risk factor for disease. A recent study of 806 children found that the more ultra-processed foods they eat, the less they get of 15 out of the 20 micronutrients tested. Children who ate the most ultra-processed foods had 2.57 times the risk of not getting enough of 3 or more micronutrients (Eur J Pediatr. 2023 May 19. doi:10.1007/s00431-023-05026-9).

A new umbrella review that analyzed 14 meta-analyses that included 430 epidemiological studies of 9,888,373 people found that ultra-processed food is consistently associated with a higher risk of poor health. The analysis found convincing evidence of an association between ultra-processed food and death from cardiovascular disease as well as type 2 diabetes, depression, and anxiety. And it found highly suggestive evidence of an increased risk of death from any cause and death from heart disease, sleep problems, wheezing, and obesity (BMJ 2024;384:e077310).