I've heard people say that even bread is ultra processed... I guess we're supposed to go back to eating twigs and berries.

Most of the packaged pre-sliced bread in the bread aisle (as opposed to the bakery area) of American supermarkets is full of ingredients not traditionally used in bread, or used in food at all until recent decades. Bread made with flour, water, salt, and yeast (plus maybe olive oil, butter, eggs, sugar, herbs etc) is not considered ultra processed.

Some bread is! Check the ingredient list. When I bake at home, I use whole wheat flour, water, yeast, a tiny bit of salt and oil.

Things I do not include when I bake at home, which I found from the first hit I got by searching for "bread" in a local Norwegian store's web site: E 472e emulgator, E 471 emulgator, margarine, dextrose, E 300 flour treatment, amylase enzymes, xylanase enzymes.

And that's a fairly short list compared to Walmart bread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48411980

It's horrifying to see the state of bread in some nations.

I really don't get why/how one of the simplest processes known to civilization needs a stock ticker and a Hogwarts-worth of chemicals thrown into it. It's really quite baffling.

The state of some of the processed packs of 'bread' I've seen/tasted shouldn't be allowed to trade using the name, tbh.

> I've heard people say

These terms have actual definitions.

Bread can be ultra-processed depending on how it’s prepared.

Better question is why you don’t think a packaged bread product with HFCS and preservatives designed for a long shelf life would be considered ultra-processed.

Some bread stays good for 2 weeks, some is moldy after 2 days. There's a reason why.

You could make your own bread so you know what is in it, and how much should be in it, and that way you’d know the difference, and probably be better off knowing you don’t have to forage twigs and berries, or be so dramatic…

Supermarket breads are trash, the first thing I found in wallmart's website:

> Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains 2% or Less of Each of the Following: Yeast, Wheat Gluten, Salt, Soybean Oil, Dough Conditioners (Contains One or More of the Following: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Stearoyl Lactylate, Monoglycerides, Mono- and Diglycerides, Distilled Monoglycerides, Calcium Peroxide, Calcium Iodate, DATEM, Ethoxylated Mono- and Diglycerides, Enzymes, Ascorbic Acid), Monocalcium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Calcium Propionate (to Retard Spoilage).

A good rule of thumb is that if your grandpa would have needed a PhD in chemistry to identify 80% of the ingredients it probably is ultra processed.

The same type of bread in France:

> Wheat flour 63%, water, sugar, rapeseed oil, salt, vinegar, yeast, broad bean flour, WHEAT gluten, flavouring (contains alcohol), acerola extract.

Most US made bread contains hundred additives and a good dose of sugar on top of them. Just check the list of ingredients on your supermarket bread, you'll think again about eating twigs. For comparison, my bread I get in my village (but also in the local supermarket) has exactly three ingredients (usually, unless it's some specialty).