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/bUrdeN555]

Or both? Ultra processed foods do make you fat but they also include harmful ingredients.

[u/mrlazyboy → u/bUrdeN555]

How do ultra processed foods make you fat?

I’ll be more specific - my TDEE is 2800 calories. If I eat 2800 calories of twinkies or apples, my tissue mass will remain the same.

Eating too many calories makes you fat. The fact that I use whey protein powder (one of the most processed foods you can eat) has not made me fat. In fact, I lost 50 pounds using it.

[u/LegLegend → u/mrlazyboy]

Ultra processed foods tend to make you hungrier or less full because they tend to be very high in sugar and lack fiber. You can eat whatever amount of twinkies or apples to reach the same calorie amount and stop there, but you're going to feel hungrier, emptier, more addicted, and worse if you just ate the twinkies. This usually lends to eating more later. There are some exceptions to this generalization, but they're not common.

[u/J4YD0G → u/LegLegend]

So it's sugar and not processed food?

Why work with the correlation when you can go to the cause right away.

[u/LegLegend → u/J4YD0G]

It's more than that.

What I've stated is just a broad generalization of ultra processed foods. High in sugar content and a lack of fiber are common in ultra processed foods but are not the only things that make them unhealthy.

For instance, ultra processed meats typically have a higher total of saturated fat content than unprocessed meats. This increase brings you closer to heart disease faster than if you were to just consume unprocessed red meats, and this isn't the only flaw with ultra processed meats.

Like the article here, a lot of research is still being done in the subject, but there is already a lot of confirmation out there that ultra processed foods aren't healthy for you. Sugar isn't the only concern.

[u/Acrobatic_Flamingo → u/LegLegend]

This all seems like it's pointing back to "A lot of foods that we all know are bad for you wind up ultra processed" rather than "there is something about processing food that makes it worse for you."

The danger here is, we've known what a healthy diet looks like for my entire life, but I keep seeing nutritional science essentially chase and reinforce fad diets that focus on one aspect of an unhealthy diet as the thing to worry about.

Focusing on process level is going to lead to people eating potato chips with "oil, potatoes, salt" as the ingredients and thinking they're healthy, in the same way the low fat diets of my youth increased sugar consumption and the more modern low-sugar diets lead people to excess fats.

[u/LegLegend → u/Acrobatic_Flamingo]

I think you're missing the point because generally all ultra-processed foods are bad for you. There are very rare exceptions, especially in bulk. The bigger issue here is the confusion around the term and what it means.

The fact that you mentioned potato chips goes into exactly what I'm talking about because that is an ultra-processed food. It goes through a long process of getting cut, dipped in oil, with added seasoning and preservatives. This is the definition of processed.

The foods you want are the foods that come right out of the ground, off the tree, or straight off the animal. That isn't to say there isn't risk to drinking milk right out of the cow, but those discussions are far less of a worry than the ultra-processed foods that are part of the everyday diet for most people in the United States.

[u/J4YD0G → u/LegLegend]

what about ultra processed meat alternatives? It's just a stupid categorization.

[u/LegLegend → u/J4YD0G]

It's not stupid at all, but I agree that it's very wide generalization. Ultra processed meat alternatives are healthier than ultra processed meat, but they're not going to be healthier than just eating the unprocessed versions of the vegetables used to make them.

I think the problem here is that people don't understand the descriptor. Ultra processed means it's gone through a heavy process to reach the final result. Oils, salts, sugars, and preservatives are all added to these foods and the more processed it is, the more of those things are used on it. Those things are not healthy for you.

To summarize for you, the closer food is to its original source, the healthier it is for you. Yes, there are still risks to drinking milk right out of the cow (drinking milk is a whole other discussion), but ultra processed foods are a prime piece of nearly every American's diet. It is a big concern.

Again, there are exceptions. Yogurt is a processed food that tends to be quite healthy for you. However, these exceptions are rare. There is no realm where McDonald's fries are healthier than just eating a raw (if your digestive tract can handle it) or baked potato.