Highly processed foods account for more than 60% of the calories in foods that Americans routinely purchase. Highly processed foods include prepared meals, white bread, cookies, chips, soda, and candy. These foods tend to have more fat, sugar, and salt compared with less-processed foods. Study author Dr. Jennifer Poti writes, “Overall, we found that not only are highly processed foods a dominant, stable part of [United States] purchasing patterns, but also that the highly processed foods that households are purchasing are higher in fat, sugar, and salt, on average, compared to the lessprocessed foods that they buy.” American Society for Nutrition, March 2015