What makes a food qualify as “ultra-processed” and why are they worse for you?

Question

Just seeing a lot of articles about ultra processed foods lately and wondering.

In: 16

Answer 1

You have a freshly picked ear of corn – Non processed

You have a bag of whole corn kernals – Minimally processed

You have cornmeal – Mildly processed (Some parts of the corn/nutrients are now gone, and there may be preservatives)

You have corn flour – Moderately processed (More parts of the original corn are gone)

You have corn pops (Cereal) – Heavily processed (Most of the original corn is gone and many other ingredients are added)

You have High Fructose Corn Syrup – Ultra processed (barely anything of the original product exists, and almost pure sugar is missing all the vitamins and other nutrients original corn had)

​

As a product becomes more processed, they typically remove the less “flavorful” stuff in a food, which is usually the stuff that makes it healthier or less fattening to eat.