[vkou]

Which particular part of this process is unhealthy, though? And how unhealthy is it?

If the problem is the food coloring, then we need to go out and say so. If the problem is the high fat content, we shouldn't pretend that home cooking with lots of oils (which oils?) isn't any healthier than processed food. Is the spoon of sugar I add to my home-made stir-fry sauce the problem, or is it the fact that I am frying it, or the fact that I serve it next to a plate full of rice?

[anm89]

Can you prove there isn't a teapot floating around saturn?

I don't view there to be a burden of proof that I should eat something unless someone can present data that that specific thing is unhealthy

I can use inference to decide there is a reasonable probability that something is unhealthy without some arbitrary burden of specific proof

[asoneth]

Certainly more specificity would be useful and I hope we get there someday. But that doesn't mean we should ignore the imperfect information we have in the meantime.

In this case, the link between processed foods (Nova groups 3 and especially 4) seems strong enough to warrant minimizing them in my diet even though the evidence for the specific ingredients or mechanisms is weaker.

[luckycharms810]

Avoiding processed foods is more about avoiding the unknown than avoiding something specific. I would say more analogous to rolling your own tobacco vs buying a pre-packaged cigarette. At least you know what's in there for the most part.