Processed and Ultra-Processed Foods

These days, everyone knows that processed foods aren’t good for our health, and the word is pretty familiar to most people. But what many don’t know is that we have another term: ultra-processed foods, which are a distinct category from regular processed foods, and their story is entirely different.
In fact, until a few years ago, processed foods were the story's villain. But now, we have an even bigger bad guy. In this episode, we want to get familiar with the classification of food types. Then, we’ll take a look at what processed and ultra-processed foods are, how we can identify them, what health issues they cause, and why they are harmful to us in the first place.

So in general, foods can be divided into four main categories, and it's essential to know them.

The first category is foods that are unprocessed or only minimally processed. By "unprocessed," we mean that the food is consumed naturally. A simple example is fruits. For instance, when you eat a whole orange, it hasn’t undergone any extra manipulation.
Of course, we’re not referring here to things like genetic modification, GMO crops, or chemical coatings — that’s a topic for another episode. What we mean here is that the structure of the orange itself hasn’t been altered.
Now, if you turn that orange into orange juice, that becomes a processed food, and the story completely changes.
Vegetables, eggs, milk, and meat also fall into this group of unprocessed or minimally processed foods.
Although, for example, pasteurizing milk is technically a processing step, its effect is minimal enough that these foods are still classified in the unprocessed or minimally processed group.

The second group is a specific one — these are ingredients that are the core components of processed foods.
By this, we mean things like oils, sugar, salt, honey, and butter.
Now, if you take unprocessed foods and combine them with these ingredients, you end up with processed foods.
A good example of this is bread. Yes, bread is considered a processed food because,

in most cases, salt and yeast are added during its preparation.
Another example is nuts — if you eat raw peanuts, that's unprocessed. But if you roast them and add salt, they become processed.
In general, keep in mind: the more processed a food is, the more harmful it tends to be for your health.
So eating natural meat is much healthier than eating processed meat.

Let’s take it one step further. In the fourth category, if you add preservatives, food colorings, or emulsifiers to processed foods, now you’re dealing with ultra-processed foods.
Quick note: Emulsifiers are substances added to f

Good to create a more uniform texture.

As you've probably realized, ultra-processed foods contain ingredients that are not typically used in home cooking, like various chemicals, artificial colors, sweeteners, and similar additives, all added to make the food more attractive and boost sales.
These additives improve appearance and flavor, essentially tricking our brains.
Many ultra-processed foods are like wolves in sheep’s clothing. For example, you might see certain breads in supermarkets that look very natural, healthy, and tasty.
But interestingly, they stay fresh for days on the shelf — that’s because they’re filled with preservatives, which help them appear fresh but also classify them as ultra-processed.

Another example is most breakfast cereals — kids love them, and they’re often marketed as healthy breakfasts — but they’re typically ultra-processed foods.
We’ll give more examples shortly, but first, let’s answer a big question:

What’s wrong with eating these foods?

For years now, various research studies have been conducted on the health risks of consuming these foods.
We’ve said before that in medical research, it usually takes a long time to figure out the full effects of a substance.
For example, in the episode about smoking, we mentioned that there was a gap of over 60 years between widespread cigarette use and the identification of its harmful effects.

Science is like a person running, while marketing and advertising ride a rocket
Ultra-processed foods fall into the same category; they’ve been widely consumed for years, and many medical studies need decades to uncover their true consequences.
But even now, current studies already show that these foods are likely associated with serious issues like stroke, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, sleep disorders, cancer, and even anxiety and depression.

A major multi-year study that was recently published had some essential findings. We’ll mention three of them here:

1. For every 10% increase in ultra-processed food consumption, the risk of early death rises by 3%. (Early death refers to dying between the ages of 30 and 69.)

2. In the U.S., about 50% of daily calories come from ultra-processed foods.

3. Over 70% of supermarket products in the U.S. fall under the ultra-processed category.

We don’t have an exact equivalent of this research in Iran, but if you look at local supermarkets, you’ll see that most products here also belong to the ultra-processed group.
It’s estimated that in the U.S. alone, over 60,000 people per year die prematurely due to consuming ultra-processed foods.

Of course, it’s important to acknowledge that processed and ultra-processed foods have offered benefits to humanity — like longer shelf life and greater accessibility or lower prices, which can be seen as advantages.
But the main issue is that their attractive appearance and taste have led to overconsumption — they’re addictive, and now a significant portion of our diet is made up of them, which makes this a double-edged sword.

So, how can we recognize an ultra-processed food?

One simple tip is that if a product has more than five ingredients, it’s likely ultra-processed.
That means when you're shopping, if you look at the ingredients list and see more than five components, chances are it's ultra-processed.
These lists often include salt, oil, sugar, food dyes, and preservatives.

But unfortunately, even the labels aren’t always reliable.
I once saw a product in a store where the ingredient list had about 10 items, and at the end, it said “and others.” Meaning there are even more ingredients they chose not to list.

Let’s go over some clear examples to sharpen your radar:

• Most supermarket breads are ultra-processed.

• Packaged ready meals like pizza or chicken nuggets fall into this group.

• Most breakfast cereals — and even granola, which is advertised as a healthy option — also belong here (depending on how and where they’re made).

• Factory-made cookies, cakes, and pastries.

• Chips and other industrial snacks.

• Sodas, industrial fruit juices, and energy drinks.

• Condiments like various sauces, which are often overlooked but are significant.

• And of course, sausages and hot dogs are like the kings of ultra-processed foods.

There are even some new stores claiming to sell “homemade” or preservative-free versions, but these have their own separate hygiene concerns.

Interestingly, there’s an English-language app that allows users to scan foods to see whether they are ultra-processed or not, although it’s not usable for many local products.
Hopefully someone will create a Persian version of it soon.

Now you might ask, why are these foods harmful at all?

There are a few theories.
The most obvious one is the harmful chemical additives.
The high amounts of salt and unhealthy fats are also clearly harmful to us.

But there’s another theory: the processing itself and the alteration of the food’s structure may affect how our body absorbs it.
Let’s go back to bread. You’ve heard the advice to eat whole wheat bread. Why?
Because when flour is refined, up to 70% of its essential nutrients like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium can be lost.

So with ultra-processed foods, not only do they contain harmful ingredients, but they’ve also lost many of their natural nutrients, and because of the structural changes, we tend to absorb more calories from them.
That’s why they’re considered one of the major contributors to obesity in society.

There’s even a type of diet where you're only allowed to eat natural and unprocessed foods.
Of course, no single diet can be recommended for everyone — each person’s diet should be personalized.
But one thing can be said with confidence:
Try to avoid ultra-processed foods as much as possible, and consume foods in their most natural state whenever you can.