Spotlight on grocery stores' highly processed food bombs
Ultra-processed foods make up 60% of the calories Americans consume, leaving folks nutritionally deficient and at increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia -- the list goes on and on.
One reason so much of what Americans eat is stripped of nutrition and loaded with sugars, additives and preservatives, is that many grocery stores don't offer healthy alternatives when it comes to packaged and prepared foods. (There are always fresh vegetables, lean proteins, fatty fish and 100% whole grains to choose from, but they aren't stacked up, aisle after aisle, on grocery shelves.)
Researchers at Mass General Brigham decided to help consumers by analyzing ingredient lists and nutrition facts of foods available in Target, Whole Foods, and Walmart. They then created a database, GroceryDB, with more than 50,000 food items. That info is available on the TrueFood website (www.truefood.tech). If you go there, you can compare foods to see what those chains offer that is nutritious and what's not.
You'll discover, for example, that cereals at Whole Foods range from minimally to ultra-processed, but 100% of cereals sold at Walmart and Target are highly processed.
Why does this matter? Because highly processed foods not only fuel many chronic diseases by starving your body of needed nutrients, they also dim your brain power and affect your mood. So, make a commitment to dump super-processed foods and check out the recipes in "The What to Eat When Cookbook." And if you do pick up packaged and prepared foods, read the ingredients label. Weird words there? Don't buy 'em.
Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world's leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively. Together they have written 11 New York Times bestsellers (four No. 1's).
(c)2025 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
(c) 2025 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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