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> The image of the greasy Costco-style pizza slice is usually held up as the poster-child for "ultra-processed" food, but they never go into great detail about

> The image of the greasy Costco-style pizza slice is usually held up as the poster-child for "ultra-processed" food, but they never go into great detail about which elements are particularly harmful. Yes they do. They put a short quote in the linked article and they expand on it further in the study: > We found that ultraprocessed foods contain a substantially higher percent of calories from carbohydrates and added sugars, and higher levels of sodium, but also had less fiber and a lower percentage of calories from protein This study was targeted toward food science, not the general public, but in my opinion they did a decent job of explaining the difference. Really though, the defining line between processed and ultra-processed isn't a single ingredient that will make or break your health. It's a spectrum, and this study shows that the average dietary composition is shifting further to one end of the spectrum. If you're trying to split hairs over the dividing line between processed and ultra-processed, you might miss the point. This isn't meant to be a guidebook about which ingredients are and aren't acceptable.

AdmiralAsshat 5y ago
> Really though, the defining line between processed and ultra-processed isn't a single ingredient that will make or break your health. It's a spectrum, and this study shows that the average dietary composition is shifting further to one end of the spectrum. Sure, and maybe it's outside of the scope of the study, but if we want the pendulum to shift back the other way, we'll probably need to allow for some baby-steps. People won't give up their burgers, pizza, and microwave popcorn overnight. But you might be able to get some people to switch to a less-processed form of popcorn if you tell them, "Microwaved popcorn is problematic because it is coated in artificially-hydrogenated coconut oil. But popcorn made in a hot-air popper or on the stove with some regular vegetable oil does not have this problem." Similarly, a person trying to make a "healthier", non-ultra-processed burger at home might be left wondering if such a thing is even possible, since hamburger buns and most commercially-available cheeses are ultra-processed by definition. I doubt that anyone at home has the inclination to try making cheese from scratch.

AdmiralAsshat 5y ago

> Really though, the defining line between processed and ultra-processed isn't a single ingredient that will make or break your health. It's a spectrum, and this study shows that the average dietary composition is shifting further to one end of the spectrum. Sure, and maybe it's outside of the scope of the study, but if we want the pendulum to shift back the other way, we'll probably need to allow for some baby-steps. People won't give up their burgers, pizza, and microwave popcorn overnight. But you might be able to get some people to switch to a less-processed form of popcorn if you tell them, "Microwaved popcorn is problematic because it is coated in artificially-hydrogenated coconut oil. But popcorn made in a hot-air popper or on the stove with some regular vegetable oil does not have this problem." Similarly, a person trying to make a "healthier", non-ultra-processed burger at home might be left wondering if such a thing is even possible, since hamburger buns and most commercially-available cheeses are ultra-processed by definition. I doubt that anyone at home has the inclination to try making cheese from scratch.