I’d go with the amount of additives compared to the “real” thing.
Like basic bread is water, yeast, flour and salt.
If your bread has 20 ingredients - it’s ultra processed.
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Warl0k3@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’m curious what definition they were using for what constitutes ‘ultra-processed’. This isn’t to take away from the study, I’ve been having a really hard time narrowing down what an ultra processed food actually is. Some studies class them as anything with a ‘non-EU GRAS’ in it, some define it by number of listed ingredients or processing steps, some of them use a definition so strict that even butter or pasteurized milk counts. I think its really important that were finally seeing what the health effects of our hyperprocessed diets are having on us, but I just wish that there was a broadly accepted definition so I didn’t have to look up the source study every single time to find out what they’re talking about.
lepinkainen@lemmy.world 2 months ago
porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
That probably captures many such things but it’s not fool proof. I like to make bread with 2-4 different kinds of flour, 4-8 different kinds of seeds, a teaspoon or two of sugar to get the yeast going, sometimes milk or olive oil or another fat source. At it’s most complex it could get pretty close to 20 ingredients but I don’t feel that should be classified as ultra-processed. The kinds of ingredients used and the actual process also matters.
Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
Yeah, bread can get complicated depending on what you want to make. Excluding flour, I have in my pantry to make bread these:
- espresso powder
- cocoa powder (multiple varieties)
- barley malt syrup
- oats
- variety of seeds (shitload of carroway mainly)
- variety of spices
Zexks@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Salt is flavoring. Ultraprocessed.
SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Me putting ingredients into my food processor called Ultra. ULTRA PROCESSED!!
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
The article references another article that references this paper that gives the following definition with reference to this paper for this definition:
UnrepentantAlgebra@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I wish every article that talks about “ultra-processed” foods would just link to the NOVA system or some other reference. Otherwise it just makes their statements seem so empty.
Zexks@lemmy.world 2 months ago
That’s bread or really any seed derived foods.
UnrepentantAlgebra@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yep, bread isn’t necessarily in the ultra-processed category but most of the common brands are.
Doesn’t mean you have to stop eating bread. Reading those NOVA guidelines and comparing the foods you eat will give you a lot to think about though.
return2ozma@lemmy.world 2 months ago
youtu.be/NYi-7iaqmHk
booly@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
The NOVA system is bad science, in my opinion.
When asked to classify centuries-old staples like cheese or jam or bread or pickles, the experts struggle to find a consensus on which category any given food is. And so the classification system itself is so imprecisely defined that studies based on the system will rest on a shaky foundation.
It’s better to identify what specific foods and what specific cooking techniques are bad and how they might be bad, rather than trying to say that the act of chopping, blending, mixing, cooking, or fermentation automatically makes a food less healthy.
If certain additives are bad, say that those are bad. Don’t try to lump in the other processing techniques into one basket.
Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Great link, thanks.