6 ms·

They'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?

• fragmede 3y ago
  There’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 ago
    The 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 ago
  It 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.