Canadians eat a lot of highly processed foods

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.