{"id":66157,"date":"2025-08-07T22:26:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T22:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/66157\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T22:26:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T22:26:06","slug":"americans-get-55-of-their-calories-from-ultra-processed-foods-cdc-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/66157\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans get 55% of their calories from ultra-processed foods, CDC report says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Americans on average get more than half of their calories from\u00a0ultra-processed foods<\/a>, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report<\/a> released Thursday.<\/p>\n

The report says the average percentage of total calories consumed from ultra-processed foods among those aged 1 and older was 55% from August 2021 to August 2023.<\/p>\n

Young people, aged 1 to 18 consumed even higher amounts at 61.9%, compared to adults aged 19 and older at 53%. No significant differences were found between males and females, but low-income adults consumed more ultra-processed foods than those with higher incomes.<\/p>\n

The report described ultra-processed foods<\/a> as those that tend to be energy-dense, low in fiber and contain little or no whole foods, while also being high in salt, sweeteners and unhealthy fats.<\/p>\n

Some of the top sources of calories from ultra-processed foods among youth and adults included:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sandwiches, including burgersSweet bakery productsSavory snacksSweetened beverages\u00a0<\/p>\n

For young people, pizza also ranked among the ultra-processed food sources. And for adults, breads, rolls and tortillas made the list.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has\u00a0targeted ultra-processed foods<\/a> as part of his “MAHA,” or “Make America Healthy Again<\/a>,” agenda.<\/p>\n

Previous research<\/a> has shown ultra-processed food is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.<\/p>\n

Research published in The BMJ journal last year found higher exposure to ultra-processed food is associated with 32 damaging health outcomes<\/a>, including higher risk for cancer, major heart and lung conditions, gastrointestinal issues, obesity, type 2 diabetes, sleep issues, mental health disorders and early death.<\/p>\n

Other studies have also pointed to the addictive quality<\/a> of many processed foods. An\u00a0CBS Reports’ investigation<\/a>\u00a0on how ultra-processed foods have become so pervasive in the American diet.<\/p>\n

“Most dietary guidelines, including the Dietary Guidelines for Americans<\/a>, 2020-2025, recommend eating a variety of whole foods and limiting intake of foods with added sugars,” the report states.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

Sara Moniuszko<\/a><\/p>\n

Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper’s wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News’ HealthWatch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Americans on average get more than half of their calories from\u00a0ultra-processed foods, according to a Centers for Disease…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[23715,48453,97,269],"class_list":["post-66157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention","tag-food-amp-drink","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}