More Than 50 Percent of Americans Eat 'Ultra-Processed' Foods

[ErikJ]

March 9, 2016
A study nails down how much of the food we eat includes ingredients that you don’t find in your own kitchen

The American diet isn’t exactly a shining example of the best way to eat, but most people probably don’t realize how much of our daily favorites include ingredients that you’d never find in an actual kitchen.

In a study published in the journal BMJ Open, scientists led by Carlos Monteiro at University of Sao Paolo found that nearly 60% of an American’s daily calories come from “ultraprocessed” food, which Monteiro and his colleagues defined as food that contains ingredients such as flavors, colors, sweeteners and hydrogenated oils, emulsifiers and other additives that you wouldn’t cook with at home. The study also pinpointed, for the first time, this type of processed food as the main source of added sugar in the U.S. diet. Meanwhile, the report shows, Americans get less than 1% of their daily calories from vegetables.

http://time.com/4252515/calories-processed-food/

[zebonaut]

1. Don't worry Trump will save Nabisco Oreos.

[GreatGazoo]

2. Not just "50+% of Americans.." but "50+% of all the calories consumed by Americans"

The piece gives no statistics on how many individual Americans eat a diet that includes their newly coined buzzword.

On other thing stood out. Potato chips are potatoes, sunflower/canola oil and salt -- how does that get lumped into "ingredients you can't pronounce" or ultra-processed? Excess salt to be sure but salt is not processing or artificial and it is an ingredient that anyone who makes chips at home would add.

Our average diet could be much better but the sad irony here is that junk journalism isn't going to help lead us out of the wilderness.

[erpowers]

3. A similar Question

I was also shocked at the mention of potato chips. After they were mentioned I just assumed the reporter meant flavored potato chips like Sour Cream & Onion, or Bacon Mac & Cheese.

While watching the news story I had a question similar to your question? So, if I go home and cut my own potatoes does that stop the chips from being over-processed?

[GreatGazoo]

4. maybe they are refering to Pringles or the 'Cheesy Poofs' type snack chips (?)