'Ultra-processed' foods make up more than half of all calories in US diet

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/b-fm030716.php

Public Release: 9-Mar-2016
'Ultra-processed' foods make up more than half of all calories in US diet
And contribute 90 percent of all dietary added sugar intake
BMJ

'Ultra-processed' foods make up more than half of all calories consumed in the US diet, and contribute nearly 90% of all added sugar intake, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

Ultra-processed foods are formulations of several ingredients. Besides salt, sugar, oils and fats, they include substances not generally used in cooking, such as flavourings, emulsifiers, and other additives designed to mimic the qualities of 'real foods'.

Ultra-processed foods include mass produced soft drinks; sweet or savoury packaged snacks; confectionery and desserts; packaged baked goods; chicken/fish nuggets and other reconstituted meat products; instant noodles and soups.

They looked at the average dietary content of added sugars and the proportion of people who consumed more than 10% of their total energy intake--the maximum recommended limit--from this source.

Ultra-processed foods made up over half of total calorie intake (just under 60%) and contributed almost 90% of energy intake from added sugars.

Added sugars represented 1 in every 5 calories in the average ultra-processed food product--far higher than the calorie content of added sugars in processed foods and in unprocessed or minimally processed foods and processed culinary ingredients, including table sugar, combined.

A strong linear association emerged between the dietary content of ultra-processed foods and the overall dietary intake of added sugars.

Furthermore, the proportion of people exceeding the recommended upper limit of 10% of energy from added sugars was far higher when ultra-processed food consumption was high, rising to more than 80% among those who ate the most ultra-processed foods.

Notably, only those Americans whose ultra-processed food consumption was within the lowest 20% had an average daily added sugar intake that fell below the maximum recommended limit.

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