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How much junk food does the average American eat in a year?

Current estimates of amounts of particular junk foods consumed by each American yearly are as follows:

• 50 pounds of cookies and cakes
• 100 pounds of refined sugar
• 55 pounds of fat and oil
• 300 containers of soda
• 200 sticks of chewing gum
• 20 gallons of ice cream
• 5 pounds of potato chips
• 18 pounds of candy
• 2 pounds of popcorn
• unknown quantity of pretzels and a wide variety of snack foods.

Source: Elkort, Martin. The Secret Life of Food, 1991, p. 125.

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