Ultraprocessed foods make up to 70% of the US food supply (2025)

Re:Ultraprocessed foods make up to 70% of the US food supply... by zeech on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @03:48PM (#46786424)

This article equates ultraprocessed foods and hyperpalatable foods (foods designed to make people want to eat them more). While many hyperpalatable foods are classified as ultraprocessed, simply being hyperpalatable does not mean it's ultraprocessed.

Worth noting that the Nova food classificationvsysten (which this article references) completely disregards the actual nutritional content of foods.

For a good primer on a lot of the misconceptions around UPFs, check out [0].

[0] https://www.harvardmagazine.com/research/harvard-ultraproces...

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Re:Ultraprocessed foods make up to 70% of the US food supply... by delichon on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @03:59PM (#46786617)

Food is ultraprocessed to make it cheaper, more palatable, or both. So while the definitions are orthogonal the goals align.

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Re:Ultraprocessed foods make up to 70% of the US food supply... by zeech on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @04:23PM (#46787044)

I agree that many hyperpalatable foods are ultraprocessed so that they can be made more cheaply, but I don't think that's reason enough to say that the, uh, process of processing foods is entirely aligned with the concept of hyperpalatability.

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Re:Ultraprocessed foods make up to 70% of the US food supply... by 8bitsrule on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @08:46PM (#46789975)

It also be processed to remove ingredients that can be sold at a higher price when used in another way.

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