The Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation has released a report on consumption of processed food consumption in Canada.
The report is based on the NOVA (not an acronym) system for classifying foods by their level of processing: unprocessed or minimally processed, processed ingredients, processed foods, and ultra-processed foods.
The last category is the one that matters; consumption of ultra-processed foods is highly correlated with obesity.
The report found:
- Canadians consume nearly half their calories as ultra-processed foods.
- This is true among all socioeconomic groups, except for immigrants.
- Children aged 9-13 consume the most ultra-processed food (57% of calories)
- The most frequently consumed ultra-processed products are pizza, burgers, sandwiches and frozen dishes, followed by packaged breads and sweetened drinks.
Lots of room for improvement here.