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Tara Ferrara’s 7-year-old daughter began suffering from a baffling mix of symptoms four years ago — nausea, stomach pain and sudden, intense panic that struck without warning.
As dozens of doctors worked to pinpoint the cause, they put the girl on a strict diet low in highly processed foods and free of gluten, dairy, corn, soy and histamines.
For Ferrara, 39, figuring out what her daughter could safely eat was like trying to understand a foreign language.
“Sometimes I feel like I can’t work because I literally need to research food,” Ferrara, a speech and language pathologist from Brooklyn, told The Post.
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) make up nearly 70% of calories in American kids’ diets — and a jaw-dropping new White House report warns they may be fueling the nationwide rise in childhood chronic diseases.
The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission’s report marks the Trump administration’s first major push to confront what it calls a “crisis” affecting more than 40% of young people across the country.
“We will follow the truth wherever it leads, uphold rigorous science, and drive bold policies that put the health, development and future of every child first,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said Thursday.
Two New York moms raising children with chronic health issues told The Post that it can be an uphill battle to keep their kids’ diets clean in a country where UPFs dominate supermarket shelves.
UPFs explained
While there’s no single, universally accepted definition, UPFs are generally packaged, ready-to-eat products that undergo extensive industrial processing to boost their flavor, texture and shelf life.
They’re often loaded with added sugar, salt, unhealthy fats and refined grains — and packed with preservatives, artificial colors, flavors, emulsifiers and stabilizers not commonly used in home cooking.
UPFs usually contain little to no fruits, vegetables or whole grains and are typically low in fiber and other essential nutrients.
Researchers estimate that about 70% of the 300,000-plus branded food products in grocery stores fall into this category.
Food fight
Two years into the strict diet, Ferrara is still navigating the minefield — and slip-ups come with serious consequences.
“[Food] really, really affects her and can trigger a flare-up where she’s so uncomfortable gut-wise and brain-wise that she can’t go to school,” said Ferrara, who co-owns Social City, which provides social support services for children.
One recent mistake? The gluten-free, dairy-free pancakes her daughter eats every morning. Turns out they contain a corn-derived additive called maltodextrin — something Ferrara only discovered after calling the manufacturer.
“It was one of the ingredients that my eyes just skipped over, because I don’t know what that is,” she said. “Unknowingly, every morning I was giving her these gluten-free, dairy-free pancakes that actually have something that is highly inflammatory and ultra-processed.”
The MAHA report warns that more than 2,500 food additives can be pumped into UPFs — all to enhance taste and texture and stretch shelf life.
Some additives have been linked to serious health concerns, including behavioral disorders, metabolic issues and even cancer.
Take Red 40, for example. This food dye is found in popular snacks like Skittles and Doritos, as well as drinks like Pepsi. It has been tied to increased hyperactivity and irritability in children, especially if they have ADHD, and can trigger allergic reactions in others.
Meanwhile, research shows titanium dioxide, found in everything from candies to sauces, may damage cells and even DNA.
Then there are artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose and saccharin, which some studies suggest can disrupt the gut microbiome — a key player in metabolism, weight control and blood sugar regulation.
Ferrara’s younger daughter, 4, doesn’t have food sensitivities — but keeping her diet clean is still a challenge. At school, playdates and other places outside the home, junk food is nearly impossible to avoid.
“She doesn’t get directly affected immediately after she eats, but I know it’s doing harm to her over the long term,” Ferrara said. “Just because it doesn’t outrightly show on every single person doesn’t mean it’s not doing the same damage internally.”
According to the White House report, ultra-processed grains — found in cakes, cookies, breads and snack foods — dominate children’s diets. These products are stripped of their bran and germ, removing essential fiber, vitamins and minerals.
“The stripping of these components can lead to blood sugar spikes, increasing the risk of Type 2 diabetes,” the report states.
The sugar situation is just as grim. Ultra-processed sugars can be found in 75% of packaged foods. The average American consumes 17 teaspoons of added sugar a day — amounting to a whopping 60 pounds a year.
This sugar overload — especially from high-fructose corn syrup and other additives — may be playing a “significant role” in the nation’s rise of childhood obesity, Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, according to the report.
But it’s not just the ingredients — it’s what industrial processing does to them.
The MAHA report warns that processing alters fiber content, caloric density and digestibility in ways that can hijack hunger hormones, short-circuit satiety signals and damage the gut microbiome.
“It shouldn’t be so hard to protect your family,” Ferrara said. “They need to be more transparent with what’s in the food, but also how it’s processed.”
Toxic situation
Astoria mom Carissa Serralta has always strived to feed her kids a healthy diet — but it wasn’t until one of her newborn twin daughters was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, MCAD deficiency, that she saw just how flooded grocery stores are with ultra-processed junk.
The condition prevents her now 2-year-old, Mila, from properly metabolizing fats from seed oils like palm, coconut and avocado.
“Eighty to 90% of the brands you see on the shelf she can’t have,” Serralta told The Post. “It could be anywhere from pasta to tortillas to Cheez-Its.”
That became a nightmare when she couldn’t produce enough breast milk — and realized nearly all baby formulas on the market are loaded with seed oils.
“They say breast is best, but if you don’t have milk for your baby and you have no choice but to give them formula, and the formula has bad ingredients, what do you do?” she mused. “Your baby has to be fed.”
Doctors told Serralta to give Mila tiny doses of seed oils to build tolerance for formula — but that led to months of relentless diarrhea.
The MAHA report notes that seed oils have flooded the US food supply, overtaking animal-based fats like butter and lard in American diets over the past century.
Finding safe foods has become “a full-time job” for Serralta. Many of the items her daughter can eat aren’t available locally, forcing her to shop online or cook everything from scratch.
If Mila accidentally eats seed oil, it means an upset stomach, which Serralta said is painful but manageable. She is thankful it’s not something more severe like a peanut or gluten allergy.
The White House report highlights that childhood food allergies have soared 88% since 1997, while celiac disease in kids has jumped fivefold since the ’80s.
The diagnosis didn’t just change what Mila eats — it transformed the rest of the family’s eating habits. Serralta shudders at the thought of her older son previously eating ultra-processed snacks.
“It’s almost a scary thought, because I was so unaware of this before I had the twins,” she said.
And while she’s no fan of the current administration, Serralta said she welcomes any effort to expand access to healthier foods.
“Less-processed foods have to be made available to all kids — it shouldn’t just be online where people with lower incomes can’t access it,” she said.
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