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In the 1960s, the biggest supermarkets only carried 10,000 items or fewer. Big supermarkets today offer almost 40,000 products.

To be sure, among those extra items are more kinds of fresh fruits, vegetables and non-food items. But not 30,000. The vast majority of the additional food items are a huge range of ready-to-eat products from cookies to snacks to complete dinners that have a characteristic in common — they’re ultra-processed foods.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Jean-Claude Moubarac: Grocery stores and Canadians are bulking up on ultra-processed foods Back to video

And they’re not nourishing us.

A new study I just completed for Heart & Strokedemonstrates the extent of the problem. It found that in 2015 Canadians received almost half (48.3 per cent) of their total calories from ultra-processed foods, with the highest rates of consumption among those in whom it can do most harm — children. Kids age nine to 13 get almost 60 per cent of their calories from these unhealthy foods. This high-consumption is evident across all socio-economic groups. Newcomers to Canada are the one notable exception; they consume considerably fewer of their calories from ultra-processed foods than those born in Canada.