r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 10d ago

Health 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.

https://cbmr.ku.dk/news/2025/not-all-calories-are-equal-ultra-processed-foods-harm-mens-health/
10.1k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

696 comments sorted by

View all comments

490

u/mrlazyboy 10d ago

I’m gonna be honest, this is yet another example of most likely being overweight impacting everything else.

Being overweight disrupts hormones and decreases testosterone. Doesn’t matter if you eat ultra-processed foods or fruit. If you are overweight, odds are higher that you will experience these problems.

109

u/bUrdeN555 10d ago

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

9

u/mrlazyboy 10d ago

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.

9

u/Uncool_runnings 10d ago

There are numerous studies now suggesting ultra processed foods lead you to over eat, in a way that whole foods don't.

The human bodies entire eating self-regulatory system is bypassed for these food groups.

5

u/mrlazyboy 10d ago

So what you’re saying is eating more calories of UPF makes you gain more weight than eating fewer calories of healthy food?

Do you think this is a novel statement? That eating more food makes you gain more weight?

This is what the argument always boils down to: UPF makes you hungry (it does!) so it makes you eat more of it, so you gain weight.

What you actually need is a longer-term study (probably at least 1 month, ideally 2-3) with 50-100 people all verifiably eating their TDEE every day. Then break them into 2 groups: UPF and healthy foods. Then see what happens to their scale weight but also body composition.

3

u/Uncool_runnings 10d ago

I'm pretty sure we fully agree with each other here.