Unhealthy, ultra-processed foods now half of calories Americans eat at home, study reveals

Medical Xpress December 12, 2024
Dennis Thompson

Unhealthy ultra-processed foods have wormed their way into American kitchens, likely harming people’s health for decades, a new study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, warns.

More than half of the calories adults eat at home now come from ultra-processed foods, which contain high levels of sugar, salt, fat and other additives, and have been linked to heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Folks typically consider ultra-processed food to be either fast food or junk food, but this heavily processed fare even includes options that might seem healthy at first, said lead researcher Julia Wolfson, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

“The perception can be that ‘junk food’ and ultra-processed foods...

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