[bcatanzaro]

Most of the things on sale at “Whole Foods” are ultra-processed these days. Anything that requires effort to make gluten free or vegan for example. Like impossible burger. Extreme ultra-processed. Or gluten free bread.

Please don’t tell me impossible burger patties are like cigarettes.

[46493168]

Right, it's not that all ultraprocessed foods are bad, it's that most bad foods are ultraprocessed.

[bcatanzaro]

Agreed. Which makes the statement “ultraprocessed foods should be treated more like cigarettes” seem wrong.

I guess “bad foods should be treated more like cigarettes” is too obvious.

[brokensegue]

nobody has a good definition of ultra-processed food

[46493168]

People keep saying that in this comment section like it’s a reason to stop talking about why some foods are addictive and lead to bad health outcomes. Who benefits when we do that?

[staticassertion]

Perhaps more obviously, a multi-vitamin is considered "ultra processed" under Nova. A fiber supplement is considered "ultra processed". Lab grade creatine is "ultra processed".

[anigbrowl]

As a creatine user I thought of this, but I don't recall seeing creatine as an ingredient in most foods. I still prefer to get my protein via meat, eggs, or other basic foods rather than in the form of a highly engineered shake, not least for cost reasons.

[anigbrowl]

They certainly have such offerings, but I'm perplexed at how you get to 'most of the things on sale'. The most processed things I get from there on a regular basis are bread, cookies, or alcoholic drinks. It's very rare that I find myself looking at the label of anything I can purchase there wondering how it was made.

[bcatanzaro]

As I said - anything surprisingly gluten free or surprisingly vegan is going to be UPF.

Sometimes I wonder if the gluten free trend is a ploy by food processing companies to whitewash expensive proprietary processed foods as “whole”.

[aziaziazi]

I think you mean "anything UPF-GF or UPF-vegan is UPF". The Typical vegan and GF foods you find in a supermarket are just the same as others foods:

   - non processed: fruits, grains, roots, leafs, pulses
   - processed: pasta, breads, nuts milks, sorbet, fries
   - UPF: most drinks, most sweeties, most prepared food

Some exceptions exists but don't change the general trend:

   - vegan burger: some are UPF, some are just smashed fallafels
   - GF bread: rice or rye bread suits most gluten intolerants. Those suffering allergies have limited options obviously (which include abstaining from bread) but their medical condition isn't a "gluten free trend".
   - meats cuts: some contains sodium nitrite and other nasty additives while others are just raw animals parts.

[anigbrowl]

OK but that's a very small proportion of what the typical supermarket has on sale.