KINGSTON, R.I. 鈥� April 28, 2026 鈥� The term ultra-processed food gets people鈥檚 attention, but it has no universally accepted definition.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been gathering data to establish a federally recognized, uniform definition for ultra-processed foods, but one has yet to be declared by the FDA.
Ultra-processed foods account for more than half the calories Americans consume at home. Young adults eat the most ultra-processed foods as a percentage of their daily calories, yet how much these consumers understand ultra-processed foods has been unknown until now.
A team of researchers from the 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 conducted the first mixed-methods study on how young adults living in the United States perceive the concept of food processing and ultra-processed foods. The results of their study were recently published in the .
鈥淵oung adults tend to be an understudied population,鈥� said Kathleen Melanson, principal investigator of the study and professor of nutrition at 溏心vlog免费B站. 鈥淲hile their incidence of chronic, diet-related diseases is low, the habits formed during this stage influence long term health behaviors and health outcomes.鈥�
Melanson and her colleagues, particularly then-doctoral student, Alexandra Larcom, who is the study鈥檚 lead author, collected data by surveying young adults ages 18-39 from October 2023 to April 2024.
The 422 respondents were asked to define ultra-processed foods and classify 24 food items commonly consumed in the United States as ultra-processed or non-ultra-processed. They also rated their confidence level in categorizing foods as ultra-processed or non-ultra-processed and described the factors they used to categorize the food and rate the food鈥檚 healthiness.
To represent the diverse range of foods within ultra-processed or non-ultra-processed categories, foods with high and low nutritional quality were included from six food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, dairy, and sweets/snacks.
鈥淲e chose packaged foods that were usually available at grocery stores across the United States, though in some cases regional brands were used,鈥� said Larcom. 鈥淲e also selected proteins and dairy foods from both plant and animal sources.鈥�
Some of the participants鈥� survey responses were unexpected.
鈥淲e were surprised by some of our respondents鈥� nutritional quality ratings when comparing them to scores,鈥� said Larcom. 鈥淔or example, respondents rated sausage, pretzels, and chocolate milk notably higher and items such as salad mix, almond milk, and yogurt as notably lower in nutritional quality than their Food Compass scores. We hypothesize some of this is due to widespread marketing, such as campaigns promoting chocolate milk as a sports recovery beverage and emphasis on high protein intake. These results suggest some foods may be underrated or overrated nutritionally by young adults.鈥�
The respondents averaged a score of 67% in distinguishing ultra-processed foods, which was considered a low number.
In their definitions of ultra-processed foods, respondents considered four factors: ingredients, extent of processing, homemade versus industrial processing, and nutritional content.
Participants mentioned specific ingredients in 25% of their definitions, 22.6% mentioned the extent of processing or the number of processing steps, 17.9% mentioned food having low nutritional value or removal of nutrients, and 14.5% mentioned industrial processing.
According to Melanson, the survey results reflected the lack of information provided to the public about ultra-processed foods.
“At the time of our survey, the United States was still gathering information to clearly define ultra-processed foods for the public,鈥� said the professor.
Of those who participated in the survey, 74% were female, 82% were Caucasian, and 82% were from the northeast or mid-Atlantic.
鈥淲e have enough data to conclude that there is limited consensus among young adults as to how to define ultra-processed foods, but more data is certainly needed from other regions of the United States鈥攍ikely with different food items representative of those regions鈥攁nd among other age groups, including children and adolescents to whom many of these foods are heavily marketed,鈥� said Larcom.
In addition to Melanson and Larcom, the research team included Ingrid Lofgren, professor in the Department of Nutrition; Matthew Demonico, professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology; and Amanda Missimer, clinical associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Cooperative Extension.