Ways to Identify Ultraprocessed Foods, and Other Concerns --- Nutrition expert joins WSJ reporters to answer questions from readers on healthy eating

 

 

“Ultraprocessed foods make up more than 50% of American calories and have been linked to an array of health issues.

 

But not all ultraprocessed foods are nutritionally equal. We invited subscribers to submit their questions about ultraprocessed foods and healthy eating.

 

Kevin Hall, an internationally renowned nutrition and metabolism scientist who previously led the National Institutes of Health's research on ultraprocessed foods, joined WSJ's Andrea Petersen, who writes about nutrition and consumer health, and Jesse Newman, who covers food, to answer reader questions.

 

Below, a selection of reader questions and answers:

 

Q: What is the easiest way to identify ultraprocessed foods?

 

-- John Tobey

 

Andrea: Scientists generally consider foods ultraprocessed if they contain ingredients you wouldn't find in a home kitchen. So if you see things like high-fructose corn syrup, soy protein isolate or guar gum on the label, that's an ultraprocessed food. These types of products make up more than half of the calories Americans eat each day. And there's increasing concern about them: Research has found that people with diets high in ultraprocessed foods have increased risks of a host of health problems including Type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

 

But many researchers believe that not all ultraprocessed foods are equally bad, and some may be relatively good for us. There's a big difference, of course, between a candy bar and a can of beans that contains a preservative. Some of the healthier ultraprocessed foods are packaged whole-grain breads, flavored yogurts that are low in sugar, peanut butter and jarred tomato sauce.

 

Q: I'm on a low-carb diet and buy bread, tortillas, and snack foods that are labeled 'Keto.' The lists of ingredients are long. Are there any ingredients I should avoid when selecting these products?

 

-- Mary Marsden

 

Andrea: A good first step is to look at the nutrition facts label on the back of the package. Breads, tortillas and snacks like chips and bars can be sneaky: They can contain a lot of sodium and added sugars and not a lot of fiber. What can be confusing is that these products are often positioned as health foods, with labels on the front of packages touting that they are a good source of whole grains, for example, or, as you mentioned, Keto. Nutrition researchers say this can create a "health halo" around the products. But since levels of added sugars, sodium and fiber can vary greatly between brands, it's often possible to find healthier options.

 

Kevin: Many ultraprocessed foods qualify for use in the food supply by the FDA if they are deemed "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS, which is often a very low bar. Sometimes, ingredients are removed from the GRAS list by the FDA when evidence emerges that they may be harmful. Part of the current problem is that there are now thousands of GRAS ingredients and little science demonstrating safety. The current administration has started to investigate changing the GRAS system to improve food safety.

 

Q: What products or ingredients in processed food should we avoid to maintain healthy heart function?

 

-- Guy Henry

 

Kevin: We don't yet know all of the ingredients in ultraprocessed foods that are linked with heart function and cardiovascular disease in general, but saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar are likely culprits to avoid in foods whether they are ultraprocessed or not. Specific categories of products linked to poor outcomes include sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meat products.

 

Q: Is there a good app to use while grocery shopping to verify the quality of the food I'm buying or to find alternatives?

 

-- Doug Slager

 

Jesse: Watch this space for sure. There are a number of companies rolling out so-called "nutrient profiling systems" that allow shoppers to scan product bar codes and receive scores based on different metrics. Yuka is one popular app, another is called Bobby Approved, and some retailers have embedded similar systems into their own apps.

 

One note of caution: These apps all use different methodologies for rating foods and suggesting alternatives, some of which may fit your needs and others less so. It's worth spending time on the apps' websites in order to learn what's behind the scores they generate and so you can choose one that reflects what you're looking for.

 

Apps like Yuka have their critics. Many say they still need work -- their results can be flawed and they require better food databases and government standards. But even critics tend to agree that these apps will play a bigger role in consumers' decisions about what to buy and eat in the future.

 

Q: I want to express my concerns about ultraprocessed foods to my family and children without sounding like a nag. How do you explain this to your family?

 

-- Edan Wernik

 

Jesse: Mom of a 6-year-old here. Like everything else with kids, age matters. At this stage, I don't get into the weeds on ultraprocessed foods. I do explain what different foods do in our bodies and how often I like to consume them as a result. For example, I might tell my son that cookies are delicious and offer a quick burst of energy, but that we need lots of other foods to fuel us all day long. On the other hand, I'm a regular proselytizer of fruits and vegetables, which I explain we eat more often because they have important nutrients that help us prevent sickness or help our brains grow strong.

 

Andrea: I save my lectures for sugar-sweetened beverages. Studies show that frequently drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with higher risks of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. When talking to my teenaged daughter, I use a trick that a nutrition researcher shared with me: Visualize the grams of sugar on the label as teaspoons of actual table sugar. The rough calculation is 4 grams of sugar equals one teaspoon. So when my daughter once picked a large soda with 80 grams of sugar, we did the math (20 teaspoons!). I'm pretty sure, she hasn't chosen that one again.

 

Q: If we know ultra-processed foods rewire our biology and neurochemistry, why aren't we labeling or regulating them like other addictive substances?

 

-- Barry Didato

 

Jesse: The first step in regulating ultraprocessed foods is figuring out how to define them. California just did this for its population and the federal government is working on it, too. The Trump administration in July kicked off an effort to come up with a national definition, asking the public to comment on what factors and criteria should be included.

 

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said in the past that he wants to remove processed foods from federal programs that provide lunch to kids in schools and money for low-income families to buy groceries. Kennedy doesn't directly oversee those programs -- USDA does -- but they do follow the U.S. dietary guidelines, which are expected to be updated soon, and likely will advise Americans to limit highly processed foods.” [1]

 

1. Ways to Identify Ultraprocessed Foods, and Other Concerns --- Nutrition expert joins WSJ reporters to answer questions from readers on healthy eating. Petersen, Andrea; Newman, Jesse.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 28 Oct 2025: A10.