The Soylent FAQ[0] has a good way of describing this:

> A box of instant macaroni could be unhealthy because it contains low levels of important vitamins and minerals while containing excess amounts of salt, cholesterol, and saturated fat. The macaroni is not inherently unhealthy because it was manufactured in a factory, it’s unhealthy because it lacks vital nutrients that the body needs.

[0]: https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002689323-What-...

You're right that a person shouldn't pre-judge a good based solely on its having been manufactured. But it's also true that someone who generally avoids processed foods will end up avoiding the most unhealthy foods available.

What macaroni contains cholesterol and saturated fat? And seems unfair to compare macaroni, a plain ingredient usually combined with others, with a complete meal.

Research suggests they are:

Ultra-processed food causes weight gain – firm evidence at last

https://theconversation.com/ultra-processed-food-causes-weig...

Apparently, the important ingredient lost during processing is dietary fiber- not vitamins and minerals.

That said, the Beyond Meat burgers and sausages have impressive satiety -- probably due to the high amount of saturated fat. (I only tried the Impossible Burger once, but I assume they're similar.)

There's not much evidence, from what I've seen, that being "processed" is a health issue. The main thing is that highly-refined foods frequently have a high calorie-to-satiety ratio and/or are "high-reward", both of which result in over-eating. Beyond Meat, at least, does the opposite for me.

I frequently bike 20+ miles on Saturday and/or Sunday, and one thing I've found is that if I eat some Beyond Meat fake meat, I'll later realize that I've burnt 2k+ Calories, eaten maybe a thousand, and still not feel particularly hungry. I actually have to pay attention to eating enough, whereas normally my body is quite eager to ingest 5k+ Calories if I choose the wrong foods. (Veggie soup is maybe more filling, but I can be full and still crave food.)

Kielbasa was the meat I missed most when I became vegetarian, and the Beyond Meat italian sausage is the first thing I've had that approaches it. If Impossible Foods can beat that, that's exciting to me.

The taste was pretty good, but I have to figure I'm eating two burgers ($6 in patties) at a minimum.

EDIT: mind sharing why you're downvoting this? Is my experience not relevant?

And I think typically the hazards of processed foods are that they’re made from low quality ingredients, then inundated with salt, sugar, and fat to make them anything from palatable to addictive. Plus a bunch of preservatives for shelf stability.

Prions are natural as well. It was recently discovered that Alzheimer's is a double prion disorder but there's no link to meat. Also, a newly discovered prion disease, CWD is killing deer, elk and moose.

More to the point, you can subsist just fine on a diet of mostly plant food without having to eat processed stuff that mimicks meat.

For instance, check out the many variations of rice and beans eaten around the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_and_beans), that are nutritious, filling and delicious and made from ... rice and beans (though rice is often processed, to be fair).

it seems possible, although likely less profitable, to make highly-processed food that is reasonably healthy.

Not just from a lab, but those powders which it contains may come from China, where regulations may be lacking.

It was maybe a bit much to try ten pounds grinding my first time making but the results were very yum.

For the purely health-conscious, the best option is probably neither, but that's not my main point.

It being natural doesn't have any bearing on how healthy it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature

It's too long to explain here, but people who have read both Michael Pollan and Taleb probably understand what I mean.

Nutrition isn't a science on solid ground, and food isn't a linear combination of its nutrients.

It's true that "natural" beef might be raised in ways that aren't time-tested (in fact it's very likely given modern farming). But something like Impossible Burger is also guaranteed not to be time-tested. That isn't to say I wouldn't try it, but it's definitely an important difference.

Being “time-tested” helps, but it’s not necessarily the only thing to keep in mind. Consider that lead was “time-tested” for thousands of years.

There are no traditional foods with lead in them, because people who ate lead would have died, ensuring that the custom didn't survive.

However lead paint was a relatively new thing. People didn't have painted walls for thousands of years. It was used for awhile (not sure how long), and then the test of time figured out that it was poisonous.

Is there some history you know of where the test of time didn't work? It's almost tautological to be honest. (And tautological does not mean "untrue" :) )

Lead might have been "bad" by modern standards in the past, but there were also hundreds of other things that were worse for mortality, so maybe lead use in certain applications just got noticed in the last century or so.

Diets were completely changed in the last 70 years -- how much evolution do you think happened in that time?

You should not use your gut and microbiome as a petri dish. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fda-casts-doubt-on-safety-of-... This is only the tip of the iceberg with this franken-food https://livingmaxwell.com/impossible-foods-burger-misleading...

  methylcellulose

  cultured dextrose

  soy leghemoglobin

I don't consider burgers particularly healthy, but I wouldn't consider the Impossible Burger as a healthy alternative.

You have to be joking. Normal cellulose makes up a huge amount of most healthy and completely unprocessed vegetables, is considered great for you, and is also an indigestible emulsifier and stool softener.

You can't just name some use that sounds icky and declare that something is bad for you.

It's possible that methylating it causes a problem, but these specific reasons are nonsense.

"fermented sugar used as preservative" So is alcohol, and it looks like this kind of fermentation typically uses normal cheese bacteria. Shouldn't be an issue for most people.

"Actually not from soy, but biofactured by genetically engineered yeast." So what?

It's in all the older news about the company and on their website -- that's what makes it look, cook, and taste like meat.

How did you arrive at this conclusion?