US food additives study reveals 10% increase

A new study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, published by Elsevier, has determined that 60% of foods purchased by Americans contain technical food additives including colouring or flavouring agents, preservatives and sweeteners. This represents a 10% increase since 2001. The findings also present evidence that the prevalence of food additives is on the rise; manufacturers have increased the mean number of additives contained in purchased food and beverage products from 3.7 in 2001 to 4.5 in 2019.

While food additives can extend shelf life and improve palatability, their health consequences are not fully understood. Assessing food-additive exposure over time is a vital step in understanding its potential role in some adverse health outcomes.

“Our research clearly shows that the proportion of ultra-processed foods with additives in Americans’ shopping carts increased significantly between 2001 and 2019. We observed this trend across all food and additive categories,” noted lead investigator Elizabeth K. Dunford, PhD, Food Policy Division, The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and Department of Nutrition, Gillings Global School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

By 2019, more than half of the overall packaged food and beverage products bought by US households contained three or more additives. Furthermore, a 22% higher percentage of baby food purchases were ultra-processed and contained additives.

“These findings give us reason for concern, given the growing evidence linking high consumption of processed foods with adverse health outcomes,” Dunford noted, adding that the investigators observed one positive trend, a decrease in the use of added flavours in carbonated soft drinks.

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