America's junk food crisis: Record 60% of foods contain additives - with pizza ... trends now
US food Manufacturers are adding a record amount of additives like preservatives, sweeteners and coloring agents to their products, a major study shows.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina found 60 percent of food and drink items purchased at grocery stores by Americans are now processed.
This is up 10 percent from 2001, despite big public health campaigns warning against obesity and increased awareness about fitness and diets.
The researchers found that frozen entrees, appetizers, pizza and carbonated drinks were the worst offenders in terms of the volume of additives they contained.
Mountains of research in recent years has shown that processed foods raise the risk of a host of health problems, including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina found a staggering 60 percent of foods in grocery stores are now tweaked with additives (stock image)
The above graph shows the shift in additives in five food groups between 2001 and 2019. The sharpest uptick was in baby food. Data is in mean additives per item
Lead study author Dr Elizabeth Dunford, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, said: 'Our research clearly shows that the proportion of ultra-processed foods with additives in Americans’ shopping carts increased significantly between 2001 and 2019.
'These findings give us reason for concern, given the growing evidence linking high consumption of processed foods with adverse health outcomes.'
Scientists analyzed the shopping carts of 100,000 American households across the country as part of the Nielsen Homescan Consumer Panel.
Participants were required to scan the barcodes on all food items that they brought home in 2001 and in 2019.
Each food purchased was checked to see whether it contained any of the four additives: Colorings, flavorings, preservatives and sweeteners.
Sweeteners checked for included aspartame — often used in fizzy drinks which previous research has linked to cancer.
While colorings surveyed included erythrosine, or 'Red 3', used by leading brands to give their food a radiant red color. It has also previously been linked to cancer and behavioral issues.
Data showed households had purchased a total of 355,870 foods and drinks in 2001 on average. In 2019, this had risen 17 percent to 414,629.
The proportion of these foods containing additives rose from 49.6 percent to 59.5 percent, the researchers said.
The mean number of additives in each food item also rose from 3.1 to 4.5 overall. And at the same time, the
