8.11.25 – Lumen News

“CDC: 62% of Calories Eaten by U.S. Children Are from Ultra-Processed Foods” 

By Dr. Susan Berry, Ph.D.

Excerpts from this article:

https://lumennews14.substack.com/p/cdc-62-of-calories-taken-in-by-us?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=3uxvo&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

A study released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds:

…62% of the total calories consumed by American young people aged 1-18 years are from ultra-processed foods, a higher percentage than adults at 53%.

“Ultra-processed food consumption has been associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality,” noted researchers Anne M. Williams, Ph.D., M.P.H., et al;

…such foods “tend to be hyperpalatable [appetizing], energy-dense, low in dietary fiber, and contain little or no whole [unprocessed, unrefined] foods --  while having high amounts of salt, sweeteners, and unhealthy fats.”

Published in a National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) data brief, the study utilized data from the August 2021–August 2023 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to analyze “top caloric contributors and mean percentage of total calories from ultra-processed foods by sex, age, family income, and 10-year trends.”

Researchers used the Nova classification system that categorizes foods according to their level of processing, from unprocessed to ultra-processed foods: 

• unprocessed, or minimally processed foods; 

• processed culinary ingredients; 

• processed foods with two or three ingredients, such as salt, oil, or sugar; and

• ultra-processed foods, produced from “industrial formulations of processed foods that typically contain unnatural additives, such as colorings or emulsifiers.”

“Homemade foods and mixed dishes that may contain ultra-processed foods are disaggregated [to separate something into separate parts] into their core ingredients to better categorize the sources of their calories,” the researchers noted…

For children, the top five sources of calories from ultra-processed foods were:

sandwiches (including burgers), which contributed 7.6% of total calories;

followed by sweet bakery products (6.3%);

savory snacks(4.9%); 

pizza (4.7%); and 

sweetened beverages (3.9%).”

 

The top five ultra-processed food sources for adults were:

sandwiches (including burgers), which contributed 8.6% of total calories;

followed by sweet bakery products (5.2%);

sweetened beverages (4.4%);

savory snacks (3.4%); and 

breads, rolls, and tortillas (3.1%).”

Overall, the mean percentage [the average of a set of percentages] of total calories consumed from ultra-processed foods among those age 1 year and older was 55.0% during the study period.

Children aged 1–18 years took in a higher percentage of calories from ultra-processed foods (61.9%) than adults aged 19 and older (53.0%).

The findings showed no significant differences between males and females for either youth or adults.

Additionally, while the mean percentage of total calories from ultra-processed foods consumed by children did not vary by income level, the study found that, among adults, the mean percentage was lower in those with the highest family income:

50.4% in adults with incomes 350% or more of the federal poverty level;

compared with 54.7% in adults with incomes less than 130%;

55.3% in those with incomes 130%-349% of the federal poverty level.