--- title: American Diet Has Too Much Processed Foods, Study Finds description: A new study finds we eat too much processed foods canonical: https://time.com/4253751/the-dark-side-of-the-way-americans-eat/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-10T11:39:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:46:55.000Z article:section: Health og:title: American Diet Has Too Much Processed Foods, Study Finds og:description: A new study finds we eat too much processed foods og:url: https://time.com/4253751/the-dark-side-of-the-way-americans-eat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: American Diet Has Too Much Processed Foods, Study Finds twitter:description: A new study finds we eat too much processed foods twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here’s What’s Wrong with the American Diet > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=e2454b6b-b769-4f14-959a-8cd23162d1f6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Mar 10, 2016 11:39 AM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Mar 10, 2016 11:39 AM UTC The Standard American Diet, often referred to as SAD, isn’t exactly a sterling example of healthy eating, but a new study in the journal BMJ Open suggests it may be worse than previously thought. When scientists surveyed the eating habits of a representative sample of more than 9,000 Americans, they found that nearly 60% of their calories came from so-called ultra-processed foods like soft drinks, snacks, cakes, pizza and frozen meals. Those foods tend to be higher than whole foods in salt and fat, but they also contain added flavors, colors, emulsifiers, hydrogenated oils and other things not found in the average kitchen. They’re high in sugar too. The study found that nearly 90% of the sugar in the U.S. diet isn’t coming from fruit; it’s coming from ultra-processed foods, where it’s added to improve flavor, even in savory items like soups and sauces. People who reported eating the least ultra-processed food also ate the least added sugar. This strongly suggests that a way to lower intake of sugar–which is linked to diabetes, heart disease and extra body fat–is to reduce excessively processed foods in the diet. The bottom line, says nutrition researcher Carlos Monteiro, the study’s lead author: “Eat more minimally processed foods, more fresh dishes and meals that you prepare yourself.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4253751/the-dark-side-of-the-way-americans-eat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4253751/the-dark-side-of-the-way-americans-eat/"},"headline":"Here’s What’s Wrong with the American Diet","datePublished":"2016-03-10T11:39:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:46:55.000Z","description":"A new study finds we eat too much processed foods","url":"https://time.com/4253751/the-dark-side-of-the-way-americans-eat/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4253751/the-dark-side-of-the-way-americans-eat/","name":"Here’s What’s Wrong with the American Diet"}}]}] ```