Is bread more processed that a frozen dinner?
Using machines and “bad” chemicals, for a start.
I think a cow is part of nature, lest every single food – plants and animals – is “processed” by that definition.
Tis my point, it’s not as easy to define as you think. Cooking processes food….
I’m reasonably sure that milk isn’t generally considered ultra processed as it’s more or less in its original form. Similarly with steak, roasts, salads, etc.
Salad dressing, breads, sausages, cakes, etc. start getting into processed. I start getting lost when hash browns or fried potatoes aren’t ultra processed, but potato chips are.
But why? What are the objective criteria? Milk has no fiber and evolved as a super dense calorie source for mammal babies.
Because it does a body good!
Honey is maybe a better example. It’s not processed at all right? So I can eat all the honey I want and it’ll be healthy?
I tend to think of food that has been modified to make it taste better through processes that remove nutrients. Like bleached white flour. Or corn syrup.
The entire food production system has been industrialized to maximize profits.
I think picking one ill defined part of that process and thinking exclusively that is the problem is reductive.
Bread makes flour taste better, does that make bread ultra processed? From what I hear some is and some isn’t based on a very hand wavy definition.
Bread is made from milled wheat, water, yeast, and a bit of sugar and salt. I would not consider that a upf.
When you bleach the flour, remove all fiber from the grains to make is softer, add dough conditioners to make it fluffy, and preservatives to keep it from growing mold, you have a upf.
Those are all things that maximize profits by making it taste better and allow it to sit on a store shelf for longer. No one will argue this product is healthier to consume. The only real constraint on what can go on food is that it is “generally recognized as safe”. That can include carcinogenic compounds as long as its below levels that have been proven to kill you.
I’m not great about reading labels. I have started avoiding nitrites in deli meats for my at home lunches. I’ll buy the white sandwich buns for the convenience. I stick with fruits and higher quality protein bars (that don’t have sugar alcohols). Mostly, i have learned what foods I’ll binge on when i buy them and just not buy them. Those binge foods are almost entirely upfs.
You’d have to Google it. I think a lot of it is the addition of salts and oils to a product plus physical transformation during processing.
Milk comes out of the animal, and it gets pasteurized and maybe fat removed, but it’s more or less the same thing.
French fries and fried potatoes, you chop them up, add salt and fat, and then cook them.
Honey gets pasteurized and refined a bit. So I think thats lightly processed.
Pasteurization is processing, but the point of it is primarily food safety, not flavor. I have noticed expiration dates on milk have been getting longer over the years - I believe they are increasing the pasteurization times and temps to make it stable for even longer before spoiling. I assume the heat will destroy more nutrients as well, so you could argue this is becoming a UPF.
The best definition I can find talks about adding things that nobody would bake with like HFCS.
So I can eat all the homemade cake I want since its not UPF…..
Well, the absence of UPF <> healthy diet, I know you know that, but I am not sure where you are trying to go with that point.
Homemade cake is likely better for you than a pop-tart, if you want to put it up against an actual UPF that people consider eating for breakfast.
Ultraprocessed:= Industrial formulations typically containing five or more ingredients, including additives like preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and artificial colors, designed to be hyper-palatable and convenient. Unlike processed foods, they often contain substances rarely used in home kitchens. Examples include sodas, packaged snacks, sugary cereals, fast food, and frozen meals.
I use salt and MSG in my home kitchen. I don’t use tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ).
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All the homemade cake I want.
One bad trick in recent years: companies substitute celery salt/powder in cured meats to claim they are nitrate free. It’s basically the same stuff.
I suspect this trend will help to reduce obesity.
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