Hot Topics in Nutrition: Are Processed and Ultra-Processed Foods Always Bad?

If you’ve spent more than five minutes on Instagram or TikTok, you’ve probably been warned: avoid anything with more than five ingredients, anything in a box, anything you can’t pronounce. Somewhere along the way, “processed” became synonymous with “poison.” But does processing automatically make a food unhealthy?

           Beyond social media, public health messaging, such as the Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ call to “Eat Real Food”, reinforces the idea that processed and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are dietary villains. In reality, nutrition is more nuanced.

For instance, let’s consider some foods that might be found in the average American kitchen: milk, yogurt, oatmeal, roasted nuts, and frozen fruits and vegetables. These food items are not typically regarded as “bad” or “unhealthy”, but they are processed. The Department of Agriculture defines processed foods as any raw agricultural commodities that have been altered from their original state.¹ Simply put, any form of alteration, including freezing, canning, pasteurizing, or filtration, qualifies a food as processed.¹ So this begs the question, would it be wise to consider all processed foods “bad”? The short answer is no.

Processed does not mean fake, and slogans like “Eat Real Food” can oversimplify a much more complex topic. Before demonizing processed foods, let's look at what "processed" even means. There are differences between minimally processed foods and UPFs, and recognizing these differences helps move us away from fear-based messaging and toward healthier overall eating patterns.

In the United States, “ultra-processed” is not an official label used by the government; there are no formal legal definitions for “processed” or “ultra-processed” foods.² One common food classification system used in nutrition research is the NOVA classification system.³ This is a system that classifies foods by the extent and purpose of processing rather than by nutrient content.³ Rather than focusing on nutrient values, NOVA categorizes foods into four groups based on their degree of processing. This is important because, through this system, it becomes clear that processed and ultra-processed foods exist on a spectrum and several can be part of a balanced diet.

Don’t get me wrong, this newsletter is not intended to encourage you to eat more highly processed foods. It is true that the more processed a food product is, the more likely it is to be higher in calories, saturated fat, salt, and added sugar than foods with less processing.⁴ 

Studies have linked higher intake of UPFs with an increased risk of developing chronic diseases such as cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, and hypertension in adults.⁵ A 2024 umbrella review of meta-analyses found that higher UPF intake was consistently associated with a higher risk of cardiometabolic disease, common mental health disorders, and mortality, although much of the evidence was rated as low quality and observational in nature.⁶

To be clear, as a future dietitian, I am not promoting a dietary pattern consistently high in processed foods. Rather, I am advocating for an overall healthy dietary pattern without fear-based messaging around processed foods. These foods often offer convenience, affordability, and pure joy. When viewed in the context of a balanced diet, they do not automatically negate health. The goal is not perfection, but pattern.

 References

1.        Processed Foods and Health • The Nutrition Source. June 24, 2019. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/processed-foods/

2.        Ultra-Processed Foods (UPF): Background and Policy Issues. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12826

3.        Examining the Nova Food Classification System and the Healthfulness of Ultra-Processed Foods. Accessed February 15, 2026. https://www.eatrightpro.org/news-center/practice-trends/examining-the-nova-food-classification-system-and-healthfulness-of-ultra-processed-foods

4.        Poti JM, Braga B, Qin B. Ultra-processed Food Intake and Obesity: What Really Matters for Health – Processing or Nutrient Content? Curr Obes Rep. 2017;6(4):420-431. doi:10.1007/s13679-017-0285-4

5.        Rico-Campà A, Martínez-González MA, Alvarez-Alvarez I, et al. Association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and all cause mortality: SUN prospective cohort study. BMJ Br Med J Online. 2019;365:l1949. doi:10.1136/bmj.l1949

6.        Lane MM, Gamage E, Du S, et al. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ Br Med J Online. 2024;384:e077310. doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-077310