Researchers who have analyzed America’s eating habits say they can sum up what’s wrong with our diet in just two words: ultra-processed foods.
These foods -- a group that includes frozen pizzas, breakfast cereals and soda -- make up 58% of all calories Americans consume in a typical day. Not only that, they delivered 90% of the added sugars that Americans ate and drank, according to a study published Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ Open.
Government health experts advise Americans to get no more than 10% of their total calories in the form of added sugars. But most of us aren’t listening. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that 71% of American adults exceeded that 10% goal, and that added sugars accounted for 15% of all the calories they consumed.