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    [OC] CDC: Over half of Americans’ calories are ultra-processed; children at 61.9% (NHANES 2021–2023)
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    [OC] CDC: Over half of Americans’ calories are ultra-processed; children at 61.9% (NHANES 2021–2023)


    In August 2025, the CDC released NCHS Data Brief No. 536 analyzing U.S. dietary patterns from August 2021 to August 2023. The results confirm what earlier international studies had suggested: ultra-processed foods (UPFs) make up the majority of calories consumed in America.

    Key points from the CDC’s NHANES data:
    • Adults (≥19 years): 53% of total calories from UPFs
    • Children (≤18 years): 61.9% of calories from UPFs — the highest exposure of any age group
    • Young adults (19–39): 54.4% of calories from UPFs
    • Slight declines since 2013–2014, but still over 50% for all groups

    UPFs are industrial formulations made largely from extracted or synthesized ingredients (oils, starches, sugars, protein isolates, emulsifiers, preservatives) and designed to be hyper-palatable and shelf-stable. Examples include sweetened breakfast cereals, sodas, frozen pizzas, ready meals, hot dogs, packaged chips, crackers, and pastries.

    This combined chart shows two views from the CDC brief:

    1. Percent of calories from UPFs by age group.
    2. The top caloric contributors to UPF intake for youth and adults.

    Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics. NCHS Data Brief No. 536 (Aug 2025).
    Full CDC brief: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db536.htm

    Posted by DrAndresDigenio

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    9 Comments

    1. BrotherMichigan on

      Isn’t this the classification where, e.g. something packaged in plastic and containing any added salt is considered an “ultra processed food?” (Because packaging it makes it a processed food and then the added salt suddenly makes it UTLRA processed because it combined two things from the other classifications.)

    2. Cuppa-Tea-Biscuit on

      ….what do you classify as sandwiches or does the CDC fall on the hotdog being a sandwich side of the debate?

    7. libertarianinus on

      UK and Asian countries dont have the crap the US have in their food and have way way better health. Crazy RFK Jr might be on to something about the preservatives and crap in our food. Traveled to Japan and food tasted fresh and made me feel great. KFC and Taco bell taste like they did in the 1980s. I loved even eating at 7-11. This is how American needs to be like.

    8. Even_Serve7918 on

      I live in an extremely affluent and educated area, where mothers either stay home with young children (and are former doctors/lawyers/consultants/bankers or are otherwise highly educated – for example, I know a SAHM who used to be a pediatrician and knows everything about child development), have money for the best food, have daily housekeepers and house managers and other forms of help, etc. These families have outrageous resources, and the parents have no reason to be overwhelmed or tired for the most part.

      However, when I see lunchtime at my child’s private 30k-a-year preschool, most of the food comes from packaging. “Healthy” chips, boxed mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, those sugar-packed yogurt “smoothies”, and tons of other processed stuff. Meanwhile, everyone’s kids are gluten-free or vegan or whatever, everyone takes their kid to the doctor for a sneeze. Everyone’s kids are in OT and PT and other therapies. These are not neglectful parents – they spend tons of time, money, and energy on their kids, they follow all the research, and many of them border on neurotic and obsessive, but their kids still eat this junk for most meals. I’ve been to birthday parties for my child’s classmates where the “meal” served was a bag of chips and a bag of Oreos, followed by cake, or barbecued where bags of fruit snacks and trays of cupcakes were set out next to hot dogs (served by a nanny or housekeeper).

      All year, my kid was the only one coming to school with cut-up fruits and veggies, pasta with homemade tomato sauce, salad, a sandwich with steak from last night’s dinner, etc. The teachers commented on it multiple times. I’m no chef and I’m not especially healthy or into special diets. My kid has no allergies so I don’t think about food that much besides the next meal and what we are in the mood for.

      I’m a totally single mother that works full-time and I’m usually exhausted, so I eat whatever I want and I let my kid eat whatever he wants (from what’s available in the house). I just didn’t grow up eating processed food and I don’t buy it now, because I never learned to eat it. It seems to be a learned behavior based on marketing and American culture, because I certainly didn’t grow up wealthy or have highly educated parents, but I also am the child of immigrants who cooked all their food at home.

      I can only imagine how much worse the diets are for the kids in the bottom 95% of society where parents are busy and tired and money is tight.

      Also, in my area, all the kids are glued to an iPad from toddlerhood watching the stupidest garbage imaginable. YouTube videos with that weird sped-up, hyper-saturated look that have weird robotic voices narrating them. Again, these are parents with graduate degrees and $10 million homes who are deeply invested in their children. My preschooler is literally the only one I personally know (in real life) that doesn’t have access to an iPad, cellphone, or computer. We watch TV and I don’t police it for the most part, but our only TV is in the living room, and we only watch fully-produced, high-quality TVs and movies, no YouTube videos or whatever. I find TV is more communal, and not nearly as addictive.

      Processed food, processed media. It’s depressing when you think about what society will be like in 20-30 years.