Ultra-processed foods harm men’s health. They increase weight, disrupt hormones, decrease testosterone, and introduce harmful substances linked to declining sperm quality. They contain industrial and synthetic ingredients. This may be why over the past 50 years, sperm quality has plummeted.

[u/mvea]

https://cbmr.ku.dk/news/2025/not-all-calories-are-equal-ultra-processed-foods-harm-mens-health/

[u/patrickw234]

Ultra-processed foods do not “increase weight”. No type of food inherently increases weight. The excess of food, including ultra-processed foods, is what increases weight. Eating a caloric surplus of literally anything will cause weight gain, regardless of what it is. You can gain weight eating bananas.

[u/Shcatman → u/patrickw234]

This is why the term ultra processed is so misleading. 

Things like multivitamins and such are ultra processed, but most would agree that supplementing vitamins isn’t unhealthy. 

I think they need to shift to low nutrient high calorie density foods. They’re not as satiating and have higher calorie counts. 

But at the end of the day encouraging more fiber consumption would likely help a lot because it causes foods to be lower calorie and more filling. 

[u/CCGem → u/patrickw234]

You can also gain significant weight due to hormonal imbalance that is due to other reasons such as ovarian and thyroid issues.