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The new science on what ultra-processed food does to the brain
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- windowshopping 3y agoanyone got an unpaywalled link? I put this through the webarchive and was surprised to find it still paywalled.
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- jyunwai 3y agoThough these aren't direct accessible links to the WSJ's report, the following non-paywalled articles provide coverage about the same research paper (which itself can be directly read at https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310 https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310 ): * The Conversation (takes a stronger focus on the paper's methodology): https://theconversation.com/ultra-processed-foods-largest-ever-review-shows-many-ill-effects-on-health-how-to-understand-the-evidence-224806 https://theconversation.com/ultra-processed-foods-largest-ev... * Medical News Today (also takes a more technical perspective, though includes more emotionally charged words in the opening): https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ultra-processed-foods-linked-to-heart-disease-cancer-and-30-other-health-conditions https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ultra-processed-fo... * The Guardian (general news coverage) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/28/ultra-processed-food-32-harmful-effects-health-review https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/28/ultra-proces...
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- terrycody 3y agoYes, I tried archive.is and 12ft, all failed. I have to say, I never success with 12ft even 1 time, what a shit website. Anyone got a more advanced trick on WSJ link?
- CSMastermind 3y agoI will say if you have the disposable income then paying for the Wall St Journal is worth it imo. It's one of the few news sources that I trust for generally reliable information that, as long as you avoid the opinion sections, tends to be uniquely unbiased.
- windowshopping 3y agoI stopped paying for them years ago when they started publishing kind of nonsense hit pieces on Tesla. Of course since then I ended up losing all respect for Elon Musk, but back in the 2010s there was a massive media war against Tesla and seeing them join it made me cancel my subscription. The resporting was biased and inaccurate to a fairly obvious extent.
- erictd 3y agoPasting the title text into a search engine often leads me to an MSN version of the story… https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-new-science-on-what-ultra-processed-food-does-to-your-brain/ar-BB1jJgH8 https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-new-science-on-wh...
- NoPicklez 3y agoI'd recommend people interested to listen to the Huberman lab podcast on "How Sugar & Processed Foods Impact Your Health". So in with an open mind, it's a good episode. The podcast mentions of a food classification system in the US called the NOVA system, which classifies foods in supermarkets based on the degree to which they have been processed based on the above scale.
- numinoid 3y agoThe guest is an absolute clown and charlatan.
- NoPicklez 3y agoHe is a bit overzealous in certain ways and does dramatise some of the findings
- datavirtue 3y agoOtherwise, no one will listen.
- Icathian 3y agoI particularly enjoy the irony of this stance being taken by someone with the username "datavirtue".
- sooheon 3y agoThe host is a supplement shill as well. It’s a “discussion” between a snake oil salesman and an algorithmic megaphone.
- squam 3y agoOh, I was quite taken in by him. Do you have any specific recommendations for detailed critiques/more information? Thank you Edit: a bit of googling turns up a number of results. E.g https://www.reddit.com/r/HubermanLab/comments/18qrjzl/lustig_episode_poor_fact_checking/ https://www.reddit.com/r/HubermanLab/comments/18qrjzl/lustig...
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- tracerbulletx 3y agoThe entire definition of "processed" as some kind of general category seems really dumb. Processed how? Which process? Any trend in the data could be explained by any one of a number of common "processes" but making this a general category is just a way to cast aspersions on all kinds of unrelated things.
- undersuit 3y ago>What are processed and ultra-processed foods? >Unprocessed or minimally processed foods are whole foods in which the vitamins and nutrients are still intact. The food is in its natural (or nearly natural) state. These foods may be minimally altered by removal of inedible parts, drying, crushing, roasting, boiling, freezing, or pasteurization, to make them suitable to store and safe to consume. Unprocessed or minimally processed foods would include carrots, apples, raw chicken, melon, and raw, unsalted nuts. >Processing changes a food from its natural state. Processed foods are essentially made by adding salt, oil, sugar, or other substances. Examples include canned fish or canned vegetables, fruits in syrup, and freshly made breads. Most processed foods have two or three ingredients. >Some foods are highly processed or ultra-processed. They most likely have many added ingredients such as sugar, salt, fat, and artificial colors or preservatives. Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from foods, such as fats, starches, added sugars, and hydrogenated fats. They may also contain additives like artificial colors and flavors or stabilizers. Examples of these foods are frozen meals, soft drinks, hot dogs and cold cuts, fast food, packaged cookies, cakes, and salty snacks. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-are-ultra-processed-foods-and-are-they-bad-for-our-health-2020010918605 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-are-ultra-processed...
- tareqak 3y agoOne example of an ultra-processed food that was a surprise to me is imitation crab [0][1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_stick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_stick [1] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/imitation-crab https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/imitation-crab
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- stuzenz 3y agoOn the same topic, I have been finding this book an entertaining and informative read - published in 2023. - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/62586003 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/62586003 The author of the above book has a good talk on the same topic here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QOTBreQaIk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QOTBreQaIk The book itself is well referenced with footnotes and an appendix with extra research papers etc.
- dayjaby 3y agoInformative enough that you don't quote a single sentence and just put a link?
- Engineering-MD 3y agoI also enjoyed ultra processed people. I found the book waffled a bit and some bits were a bit shoe horned in. There is also a tendency towards exaggeration for dramatic effect. The strongest arguments I found were that we have evolved with our food over millions of years and eating is such a core role of any biological organism. Introducing all these edible synthetic products would understandably have unintentional consequences. The other good one is an economic argument: all the food companies want you to consume more, so there is an incentive to make you over eat these products.
- julianeon 3y agoThere is one question I have when seeing articles about these types of studies. I understand that ultra-processed foods often lead to being overweight or obese, and I can see how a whole host of problems can flow from that, from that condition of the body. My question is: as a normal weight person, would these downsides still apply? It does seem, skimming these articles, that the answer is 'yes' - ultra processed foods being associated with cancers and with a 22% higher chance of death from any cause, for example. I'd be interested in more on those points, but this is helpful to know.
- sooheon 3y agoWhy wouldn’t it? Weight is a lagging indicator, and it’s only one phenotype out of the countless ways your body is affected by what you eat.
- whatshisface 3y agoMany of them, like the glycemic load, can damage your body directly without being mediated through the many dangers of excessive fat tissue.
- nikkwong 3y agoPeople can (and very readily do) develop metabolic diseases from consuming a poor diet at a normal weight. People develop insulin resistance and become diabetes quite commonly in this circumstance, but they can also develop liver, cardiovascular, and kidney disease. Basically, all of the potentially fatal diseases of excess that you would best avoid.
- dylan604 3y agoThis really seem like a weird way to look at it. It's pretty clear that it's not good for you, yet it reads as if you're looking for a loop hole. That's like saying you know heroin can cause problems for a specific segment of the population, yet you're wanting to risk it anyways. Edit: to be less accusational
- Supermancho 3y ago> yet you're looking for a loop hole. Claiming a poster has a secret intent, is not constructive.
- datavirtue 3y agoThe lower the water content, the more dangerous and unhealthy it is. My rule after tracking health studies and fitness information for more than a decade. The old boring advice is golden. Fresh fruits, and more importantly, vegetables. Tapering off rapidly toward complex carbs and grains after a substantial portion of legumes. The more you grind fruit and grains the more they turn into sugar. No one wants to hear the truth: HoHos and pork shoulder will ruin your retirement years.
- verticalscaler 3y ago> No one wants to hear the truth: HoHos and pork shoulder will ruin your retirement years. I think it is well understood by interested people that indulging in cream-filled chocolate snack cakes will lead to bad outcomes. But what is your beef with pork shoulders?
- giantg2 3y agoI generally agre, but pork shoulder shouldn't be that bad for you. If you're barbecuing it, a lot of the fat should cook out. If you eat an otherwise healthy diet and dont over do this, it should be fine. An interesting thing that I've noticed, is that pork fats seem to vary in their solidifying temperature. If I get pork from the supermarket, the fat resolidifies at room temperature rather quickly. If I get pork from a local farm, it can take all night to resolidify at room temperature. I'm thinking the quality of the pork feed may be affecting the health properties of the fat (higher saturated fat tends to equal higher solidity). Obviously it's still bad if one overeats it, but maybe we could get some health benefits from looking at the quality of the fats through things like animal feeds and living condidtions.
- walterbell 3y agohttps://github.com/Barabasi-Lab/GroceryDB https://github.com/Barabasi-Lab/GroceryDB > we introduce GroceryDB, a database with over 50,000 food items sold by Walmart, Target, and Wholefoods, unveiling the degree of processing characterizing each food. GroceryDB indicates that 73% of the US food supply is ultra-processed, and on average ultra-processed foods are 52% cheaper than minimally-processed alternatives. We find that the nutritional choices of the consumers, translated as the degree of food processing, strongly depend on the food categories and grocery stores. We show that there is no single nutrient or ingredient "bio-marker" for ultra-processed food, allowing us to quantify the individual contribution of over 1,000 ingredients to ultra-processing. GroceryDB and the associated https://www.TrueFood.tech https://www.TrueFood.tech website make this information available, aiming to simultaneously empower consumers to make healthy food choices, and aid policy makers to reform the food supply. Machine Learning Prediction of Food Processing (2021), https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.22.21257615 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.22.21257615 GroceryDB: Prevalence of Processed Food in Grocery Stores (2022), https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.23.22274217 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.23.22274217
- windowshopping 3y agoThis site makes no sense to me. I looked up "plain hummus" and it has a score of 70? https://www.truefood.tech/product/wf_cedars-mediterranean-foods-cedars-original-hummus-8-oz-b00032e15u?store=all https://www.truefood.tech/product/wf_cedars-mediterranean-fo... But the ingredient list shows almost zero additives. The same goes for a lot of other hummuses, but then some of them have a score of 1 despite having ingredient lists that are not discernably different. https://www.truefood.tech/product/wf_just-hummus-original-hummus-75-oz-b089x1wfph?store=all https://www.truefood.tech/product/wf_just-hummus-original-hu... Idk. Maybe I'm missing something here. The website goes on to say: > In this example the Organic Plain Yogurt is at the 4th percentile among all yogurts, meaning if we have 100 different yogurts on a shelf then 95 of them are more processed than the Organic Plain Yogurt. So, the 70 just means only 30% of all hummus are more processed than this one? But, does that really tell me anything about how processed the hummus is objectively? What if all hummus is extremely highly processed, how would this site indicate that? A 1 could still be highly processed in a category that is generally ultra-processed. :/
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y agohttps://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?d=5174899409093&w=VSv5J3DY26VIdtOXVjBG04D3w1D0GKXz https://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?d=5174899409093&w=VSv5J3DY26...
- octopusRex 3y agohttps://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/ultra-processed-foods-poorer-brain-health/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/ultra-pro...
- mharig 3y agoA few years ago I read a blog post about that topic with a lot of refs to scientific papers. The blogger preferred the term "coffee shop food" over "(highly/ultra) processed food". It includes the packaging in plastic. I don't know if newer research has ruled out the wrappage as a cause, or if the plastic lobby manipulated to focus the ingredients. The blog pointed to the very high effect size the experiments revealed (mostly mouse/rat model), and the impossibility to track it down to specific (groups of) substances. Unfortunately i cannot find the blog post. To me it smells like microplastics might play a role.
- cypherg 3y agoThey've still never actually defined what an "ultra-processed food" even is. Is it ketchup? Is it protein powder? Is it infant formula? Is it plant-based meat? Is it banana bread? Is it based on the number of ingredients? Is it based on a preparation method? This is the core problem with just about every article or study on UPFs
- fragmede 3y agoThere’s always going to be a grey area in the middle, but actual spam in a can, and totally prepared microwave dinners are clearly in that category.
- Kirby64 3y agoThe gray area is the problem. There's tons and tons of food that is likely healthy, but would meet the "ultra-processed" definition due to including certain ingredients. If those get lumped into the pile, then what is the study actually even measuring? Nothing useful in my view. If you want to make a case that a specific ingredient is harmful by itself (e.g., preservative X added to a food, all else equal, is bad) then I think that's a much stronger argument. Right now all these studies seem to use broad strokes on the definition of ultra processed that make me think that it would be impossible to accurately remove confounding variables from the study.
- NoPicklez 3y agoIt has been defined many times and it's not a core problem. https://world.openfoodfacts.org/nova https://world.openfoodfacts.org/nova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_classification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_classification There doesn't need to be one formal globally recognised definition if you understand the intent of the meaning of the word. Ketchup, protein powder, infant formula, plant-based meat and banana bread are all considered highly processed. Banana Bread less so if you decided to make it at home using raw ingredients.