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/J4YD0G]

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.