Movements opposing ultra-processed foods are increasingly appearing on social media, turning these types of foods into a growing “villain” for health.
The concept of “ultra-processed” foods is still quite foreign to many Vietnamese consumers, even though they have been on supermarket, store, and grocery shelves for a long time, as seen in products like sausages, industrial bread, bacon, and various snacks.
As a result, movements against ultra-processed foods are becoming more frequent on social media, making these foods increasingly perceived as a “culprit” for consumer health.
However, the real extent of the benefits and harms of these foods remains a contentious issue.
A concept still quite vague
Bacon. (Source: Brasa).
There are many definitions of this type of food, but fundamentally, foods are considered ultra-processed when they are manufactured in factories with the addition of chemicals and other additives to enhance color, flavor, texture, and this processing often boosts the flavor and calorie content of the food.
According to some other definitions, ultra-processed foods contain ingredients that are never or rarely used in home cooking or contain additives that enhance the palatability of the final product.
Even the term “processed foods” is still a very new concept. To date, scientists have not reached a consensus on how to accurately define processed foods. If you give two experts the same list of ingredients, “they will have differing opinions on whether an ingredient can be classified as processed,” said Giulia Menichetti, a senior researcher at Harvard Medical School specializing in food chemistry.
Take milk as an example. Some experts consider it a processed food because it undergoes pasteurization to kill pathogens. Others do not think it falls into this category because whole milk typically contains few additives beyond vitamins.
According to NOVA, processed foods contain added ingredients to enhance flavor or prolong shelf life, such as many canned products, bacon, and cheese.
Meanwhile, ultra-processed foods are made primarily or entirely from oils, sugars, starches, and ingredients that you wouldn’t buy at a grocery store—things like trans fats, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, and other additives.
However, this definition is somewhat convoluted and overlapping, making everything even more chaotic and vague. Everything from packaged cookies to flavored yogurt to infant formula fits this description.
As a result, “you ultimately end up with a conclusion that gummy bears and canned beans are no different,” said Julie Hess, a nutrition researcher at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Staggering conflicting results in experiments
Jessica Wilson, a nutrition expert living in the US, is passionate about ready-made pupusas purchased from the retail chain Costco. Not only because they are delicious, but also because they have helped her in her quest to “vindicate” ultra-processed foods.
It all began in the summer of 2023 when Dr. Chris van Tulleken, an infectious disease specialist in the US, was promoting his book “Ultra-Processed People”.
While writing the book, van Tulleken spent a month primarily eating foods like chips, soda, packaged bread, frozen meals, and cereals. “What happened to me is exactly what research says will happen to everyone,” said van Tulleken.
He reported that he gained weight, his hormone levels skyrocketed, and MRI scans before and after showed changes in his brain.
According to van Tulleken, this experiment highlighted the “terrible emergency” of the “romance” between society and ultra-processed foods.
However, Jessica Wilson believes that van Tulleken’s experiment was exaggerated, and the information has made regular consumers of processed foods feel ashamed.
In other words, many Americans, especially low-income individuals and people of color, often struggle to access fresh foods. She argues that not all foods classified as ultra-processed should be considered harmful, including items ranging from vegan meat substitutes and non-dairy milks to chips and candy.
So, she conducted her own experiment. Like van Tulleken, for one month, Wilson consumed 80% of her daily calories from ultra-processed foods, which is equivalent to the average American diet.
She swapped her morning eggs for soy sausage and replaced her ready-made lunch—sometimes just beans with butter and hot sauce—with Trader Joe’s instant tamales.
She snacked on yogurt, cashew milk, and jam. For dinner, she had one of her favorite Costco pupusas, or perhaps chicken sausage with vegetables and Tater Tots.
Something strange happened. Wilson found that she had more energy and felt less anxious. She didn’t need as much coffee to stay alert during the day. She felt better on an ultra-processed diet than before, a change she attributed to consuming more calories through complete meals, rather than randomly combining whole food ingredients.
Jessica Wilson’s perspective has sparked significant backlash. Many find it surprising that even a nutrition expert would defend a food group that a 2024 study linked to dozens of adverse health outcomes, from depression and diabetes to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and cognitive decline.
Nevertheless, she maintains her stance, arguing that recommendations to avoid all ultra-processed foods could confuse consumers and leave them feeling insecure about their diets.
How can two people consuming the same food have such different experiences? And is it true that not all ultra-processed foods deserve their bad reputation?
In a 2023 study, USDA nutrition expert Julie Hess and colleagues created a hypothetical diet consisting almost entirely of ultra-processed foods like ready-made cakes, canned soups, and instant oatmeal.
This diet was high in sodium and low in whole grains, but surprisingly, it scored 86 out of 100 for adherence to US dietary guidelines, significantly better than the average American score of 59 points.
This experiment demonstrated that there are nutritious ultra-processed foods, and some can “help people follow healthy diets more easily and conveniently because they have longer shelf lives, are more cost-effective, and are sometimes more accessible,” Hess remarked.
Another study in 2024 also supported the idea that people who consume processed foods can still maintain good health. Although researchers found a link between high consumption of processed foods and early mortality risk, they concluded that the overall quality of the diet might be more important than the amount of processed food one consumes. In other words, a person can eat a lot of processed foods if they are nutritious.
This study aimed to correct the “misconception that all ultra-processed foods should be limited and to avoid oversimplifying dietary recommendations”, the study’s authors stated.
Even those who are staunch critics of ultra-processed foods, like van Tulleken, agree that not all are alike. However, Tulleken emphasizes that cooking at home with salt, sugar, and fats is different from consuming 3,000 calories of those substances in half an hour by eating ultra-processed foods.
These hotly debated questions arise at a crucial moment. In 2025, the US government will release an updated version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which dictate what people should eat and shape school lunches and educational programs.
The new version may include the first guidelines on ultra-processed foods. Officials at the US Food and Drug Administration are also reportedly considering new regulatory approaches to these products.
Good or not good?
The food industry still often claims that ultra-processed foods belong to an unhealthy diet.
Even the very definition of ultra-processed foods has somewhat categorized these foods as “unhealthy.”
Hamburger.
And because most health-conscious individuals have the same question about processed foods: Will they kill me?
At this point, scientists and policymakers still have not provided the best answers.
However, from a scientific perspective, Menichetti, a food chemist, states that industrial production means that the ingredients in food have undergone complex chemical changes that researchers have yet to fully assess the impacts of. “We evolve alongside our food, so if we become accustomed to certain chemicals within a certain range, changing the components of food through processing can alter how they affect our health,” she said.
Moreover, some studies have indicated that ultra-processed foods affect the body differently than unprocessed foods, regardless of their nutritional composition. A 2024 study found that plant-based foods, traditionally considered healthy, lost many benefits and even contributed to increased cardiovascular disease risks when in their ultra-processed state (for example, whole grains turning into store-bought bread).
A 2020 article concluded that poor health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and depression are associated with ultra-processed diets, and there is no study linking this diet to better health conditions. The author concluded that the level of processing of food could be related to the “healthiness level” of that food.
Another study conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2019 provided some of the strongest evidence indicating that ultra-processed foods can directly cause health issues. In this study, 20 adults in the U.S. lived in the NIH laboratory for one month. Half of them consumed minimally processed foods like vegetables and nuts. The other half ate ultra-processed foods such as bagels and canned pasta.
Both diets had equivalent amounts of calories, sugar, salt, and nutrients, but individuals might eat more or less of their portions based on their preferences. With the ultra-processed diet, people consumed more and gained weight. Meanwhile, with the minimally processed diet, they lost weight and experienced positive hormonal changes and reduced signs of inflammation.
These findings suggest that there is something about ultra-processed foods that causes people to overeat and may lead to health issues, according to author Kevin Hall, although the reasons for this remain unclear.
There are many different hypotheses regarding this issue, such as the combination of ingredients that manufacturers use to make food taste better, the influence of additives, or the production process diminishing the quality of food.
The Irreplaceable Role of Ultra-Processed Foods
Kendra Chow, a registered dietitian and director of policy and public relations at the World Cancer Research Fund, a nonprofit organization, states that even though many questions remain unanswered, we do know that some ultra-processed foods are harmful.
Breakfast cereals contain quite a lot of sugar. (Photo: iStock).
These are “snack foods” with formulas high in salt, sugar, or saturated fat, such as potato chips, candy, and sausages. These foods have long been associated with health issues such as cancer and heart disease. She noted that scientific research on these foods is clear enough that people should limit their consumption frequency.
Chow mentioned that what is more challenging is figuring out how to handle ultra-processed foods that seem to have better nutritional value, such as flavored yogurt and store-bought vegetable pasta sauces.
With the current massive campaigns against ultra-processed foods, van Tulleken argues that a ban on them would be impractical, as it would essentially wipe out the modern food system, with particularly devastating consequences for those with lower socio-economic status. Although Tulleken maintains that ultra-processed foods contribute to the current public health crisis, he also acknowledges that they play an important, albeit imperfect, role in a world where many people are short on both time and money.
Even Hall, the NIH researcher, regularly consumes ultra-processed foods. Most of his lunches consist of frozen meals reheated in the microwave. He states that he still tries to choose meals rich in fiber, whole grains, and beans, while being low in sodium, saturated fat, and sugar, but he is also aware that technically, it is still a form of ultra-processed food.
After her experiment last summer, Wilson continues to eat a lot of ultra-processed foods and feels comfortable with it. For her, this debate is not just about food but also about the practical way of living in a country where food prices are soaring and many people lack the resources to cook three meals a day with fresh ingredients.
Wilson points out that people often think nutrition experts will advise them to eat less. However, in reality, she often spends time helping people figure out how to eat more, whether they are trying to feed a family on a tight budget or simply because they do not have enough time and energy to cook or find ways to incorporate nutritious foods into their diets reasonably.
