Ultra-processed food is a food that you couldn't possibly replicate in your own kitchen

Max Lugavere: "Ultra-processed foods are defined essentially as a food that you couldn't possibly make in your own kitchen if you tried. It's a food product with innumerable ingredients, which doesn't necessarily demonize a food. But it's a fairly good surrogate indicator for what a processed food might look like, a food that has innumerable ingredients, half of which you can't identify or even pronounce. So I think that's a fairly good litmus test. But it's also important to understand that even within the bucket of ultra-processed foods, some are better than others. And we need to continue to do research to understand which are the most nefarious from a health standpoint. I think it's fairly well agreed, well established at this point, that sugar sweetened beverages are among the worst offenders. They provide no satiety benefit, pure calories, artificial colorants, and the like. And there are certainly some ultra-processed foods that are likely more benign. But in general, as a general screening tool, if you will, an ultra-processed food is generally a food that you couldn't possibly replicate in your own kitchen if you tried."