Despite the dire warnings, Americans are eating more processed food than ever before.
Pizza, fast food and soda drinks account for more than half the total amount of calories the average American consumes, a rise of 4 percent in 15 years. Conversely, whole foods are making up just 27 percent of calories.
The diet is causing chronic disease, such as obesity, diabetes and heart problems, and also increasing the risk of a severe Covid infection, say researchers from New York University.
They analysed the diets of around 41,000 Americans and tracked them from 2001 to 2018. Ultra-processed foods—including frozen pizza, soda, fast food, sweets and most breakfast cereals—made up 57 percent of total calories.
Every demographic group was eating more processed foods, the researchers discovered, with the sharpest increase among the over-60s. Only Hispanic adults and college students were eating less.
The increase may be partly explained by the recent Covid lockdowns when people have been doing less shopping and relying instead on deliveries and takeaways.
It’s time to change the way we assess food, the researchers say. “Most of the foods that are marketed to us are industrial formulations that are far removed from whole foods, such as vegetables, fruits and grains. Despite this, nutritional science tends to focus on the nutrient content of foods and has historically ignored the health implications of industrial food processing,” said Filippa Juul, one of the researchers.
(Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2021; doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqab305)
