Ultra-processed foods now make up most of the daily calories US adults eat

More than half of the calories in the typical American diet now come from foods that undergo heavy industrial processing before they reach a plate, according to the federal government’s own nutrition surveillance system. That share has held above the halfway mark for years, meaning products like packaged snacks, sweetened drinks, and reconstituted meat items outweigh minimally processed staples such as fresh produce, plain grains, and unprocessed meat in the average diet, not as an occasional indulgence but as the dominant source of daily energy intake.

The finding carries weight because of who produced it: a federal health agency relying on a standardized, repeated national survey rather than a single study with a small sample. That distinction matters for how seriously public health officials, food manufacturers and policymakers treat the figures, since data drawn from ongoing government surveillance carries a different kind of authority than a one-off academic paper.

What the CDC’s data brief measured

The figures come from the National Center for Health Statistics, the CDC’s data and survey arm, which examined dietary intake data collected between August 2021 and August 2023 as part of its ongoing national nutrition survey. The resulting data brief found that ultra-processed foods accounted for an overall mean of 55.0 percent of total calories consumed among people age 1 and older, using a classification system that groups foods by the degree and purpose of industrial processing rather than by nutrient content alone. Ultra-processed foods, under that system, are products formulated largely from substances extracted or synthesized from foods, combined with additives such as preservatives, emulsifiers, and artificial flavors, a category that includes many packaged snacks, sodas, frozen meals, and reconstituted meat products.

The classification system behind these figures, known as NOVA, sorts foods into four groups ranging from unprocessed or minimally processed items through processed culinary ingredients and processed foods up to the ultra-processed category at the far end. Researchers developed the framework specifically because traditional nutrition labels, which focus on calories, fat, sugar, and sodium content, do not capture how a food was manufactured, and a growing body of research has linked the ultra-processed category itself, independent of its nutrient profile, to higher rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic conditions.

How much of that comes specifically from adults

Among adults age 19 and older, the ultra-processed share came in somewhat lower than the all-ages figure but still well past the halfway point, at 53.0 percent of total daily calories, according to the same data brief. Younger adults consumed a larger share than older ones: adults between 19 and 39 got 54.4 percent of their calories from ultra-processed sources, compared with 52.6 percent for adults 40 to 59 and 51.7 percent for adults 60 and older. That gradient suggests the dietary shift toward heavily processed foods has been more pronounced among younger generations, even as older adults still derive a majority of their own calories from the same category.

Where those calories are actually coming from

The data brief identified the specific food categories driving the total, led by burgers and sandwiches, sweet baked goods, savory snacks, pizza, and sweetened beverages. Many of these items sit at the center of ordinary American eating patterns rather than at its fringes, which is part of why the ultra-processed share is so high: the category captures not just obviously packaged junk food but also many quick-service and grab-and-go staples that consumers may not immediately classify as heavily processed. Sweetened drinks alone represent a substantial share of ultra-processed calories, reflecting how much of the total comes from what people drink rather than solely from what they eat.

A modest decline since the early 2010s

The trend line embedded in the CDC’s data brief runs counter to the assumption that ultra-processed consumption has been climbing steadily. Comparing the 2021-2023 survey period with data collected in 2013-2014, the full data brief found that the ultra-processed share among adults and children combined declined from 55.8 percent to 53.0 percent over that roughly decade-long span. Researchers who track the classification caution that a modest downward trend does not mean the category has become a minor part of the diet; even at its lower end, ultra-processed foods still supply more than half of all calories consumed, meaning the recent decline has not come close to reversing the underlying pattern.

The income gap in ultra-processed consumption

The data brief also broke consumption down by household income, finding that adults in the highest family income bracket derived the smallest share of their calories from ultra-processed foods compared with lower income groups. That pattern lines up with a body of nutrition research tying food cost, availability, and marketing to dietary composition, since minimally processed staples such as fresh produce and lean protein often carry a higher price and require more preparation time than shelf-stable, ready-to-eat ultra-processed alternatives. Public health researchers have pointed to that cost and convenience gap as one structural reason the ultra-processed share remains stubbornly high even as coverage of the CDC findings has drawn wider public attention to the category’s health associations.

Nutrition researchers who study the NOVA framework generally caution against treating every ultra-processed item as equally harmful, since the category spans everything from a sugary carbonated drink to a fortified whole-grain bread product manufactured with additives purely for shelf stability. Even so, the CDC’s data brief did not find a subgroup of the population where ultra-processed foods fell below roughly half of total calories, suggesting the pattern cuts across age, income, and dietary preference in ways that a narrower focus on any single food category would miss.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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