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By Matthew Rees

Food and Health Fact #122: Americans' consumption of ultra-processed foods

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Ultra-processed foods account for 58 percent of the calories consumed by American adults – the highest level among 26 other countries that have been studied. (Among American children, the figure is 67 percent.) These foods are typically high in added sugar or sodium – examples include virtually all packaged snacks and pre-prepared frozen foods – and have little nutritional value. As a result, those with diets high in ultra-processed foods have a 79 percent increased risk of obesity, according to one retrospective cohort study. The authors of a recent paper in Current Obesity Reports explain another risk: “specific features from food processing, such as the inclusion of additives and alteration of the food matrix makes the foods have a softer texture for less chewing and amplifies sensory properties, which delays satiety signaling, and thereby results in an overconsumption of foods.”