[jovial_cavalier]

So the chefs are preparing food that has the same macros as ultraprocessed meals (I assume like tv dinners or something?) Why do they keep referring to the freshly-prepared food as "ultraprocessed"?

    “Is this processed or unprocessed?” I asked.

    Kozlosky smiled. “Ultra-processed,” she said. “Lots of participants can’t tell the difference.”

If the term has any meaning, you could tell very easily. Go look at a freshly fried tortilla chip, and compare it to a tostito. You know which one is which instinctively.

I thought I understood the study but now I'm not sure. I thought the idea was to take the exact same thing you'd get in a tv dinner and make it fresh, so no freeze drying, no preservatives, etc. Then if that food on its own causes the same pattern of health issues, we know it's simply a diet problem. It sounds like they replicated that effect. So they got evidence that ultraprocessing doesn't actually matter all that much?