Most U.S. Adults Lack Awareness of Processed Foods
WEDNESDAY, July 16, 2025 -- Most U.S. adults cannot identify processed foods correctly, according to a study published online July 8 in JAMA Network Open.
Neal D. Barnard, M.D., from George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and colleagues assessed public understanding of processed foods and their association with health. The analysis included 2,174 survey participants aged 18 to 92 years.
The researchers found that while no single processed food was identified by a respondent majority, 28 percent of respondents cited meat products (e.g., lunch meat, hot dogs, and hamburgers), 14 percent cited shelf-stable foods (e.g., canned, packaged, frozen), and 13 percent cited foods with artificial additives. Compared with older respondents (aged 60 to 92 years), half as many young respondents (aged 18 to 27 years) cited meat products (36 versus 18 percent). More than one-third of respondents (39 percent) reported that all processed foods were unhealthy versus 40 percent who did not believe all processed foods were unhealthy.
"Responses were highly subjective and largely unrelated to prior epidemiological research findings on the health effects of processed foods," the authors write. "The vague term processed foods should be replaced by more specific terms describing foods’ known health effects."
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
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