4 ms·

The article doesn't lay out a good argument for why "ultra-processed" is a more significant comparison than considerations like "too much sugar is bad", "too mu

The article doesn't lay out a good argument for why "ultra-processed" is a more significant comparison than considerations like "too much sugar is bad", "too much salt is bad". "too much sugar is bad" is already enough to express things like "drinking coca cola is unhealthy": since coca cola is high in calories but low in nutrients. It's easy to consume more calories than the body burns by drinking coca cola. AFAIU, the argument as presented is that "ultra-processed" foods are unhealthy, because the processing makes you want to eat the food more. I feel the argument against "ultra-processed" is in agreement with "limit consuming food that's low-satiation, low-nutrition, calorie-dense"; but then focuses on "ultra-processing bad", seemingly because processing leads to those bad things.

gomerspiles 2y ago
Diet Cola is about the same as water nutritionally but is a UPF. It's my understanding that adding diet cola to one's diet causes the same weight gain as cola. Obviously this can't be a direct calorie result, so this is about messing up the our perceptions for the normal range of food.
- nojvek 2y ago
  Adding diet cola causes weight gain the same as normal cola? Where are you getting that info from? The chemistry doesn’t add up.
  - rgoulter 2y ago
    A quick search does bring up this page, which mentions an observational study where people who drank more diet soda gained more weight. https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-ga... But, again, "diet soda causes weight gain" doesn't explain how drinking more diet soda would lead to weight gain. Whereas "people who drank more diet soda also ate more (than those who drank less diet soda)" seems both plausible, and would explain the result.
    - gomerspiles 2y ago
      Right, so this is an example of a UPF that would be more harmful than avoiding UPFs given that it confuses the senses and most people don't want to track everything and refuse themselves food according to the numbers. One could naturally make UPFs that are entirely boring, but his would they compete on the consumer market with UPFs like the diet cola?

gomerspiles 2y ago

Diet Cola is about the same as water nutritionally but is a UPF. It's my understanding that adding diet cola to one's diet causes the same weight gain as cola. Obviously this can't be a direct calorie result, so this is about messing up the our perceptions for the normal range of food.

nojvek 2y ago
Adding diet cola causes weight gain the same as normal cola? Where are you getting that info from? The chemistry doesn’t add up.
- rgoulter 2y ago
  A quick search does bring up this page, which mentions an observational study where people who drank more diet soda gained more weight. https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-ga... But, again, "diet soda causes weight gain" doesn't explain how drinking more diet soda would lead to weight gain. Whereas "people who drank more diet soda also ate more (than those who drank less diet soda)" seems both plausible, and would explain the result.
  - gomerspiles 2y ago
    Right, so this is an example of a UPF that would be more harmful than avoiding UPFs given that it confuses the senses and most people don't want to track everything and refuse themselves food according to the numbers. One could naturally make UPFs that are entirely boring, but his would they compete on the consumer market with UPFs like the diet cola?