The American Heart Association (AHA) recently published an article on ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and their impact on cardiometabolic health. In it, the AHA defines ultra-processed foods as products containing “food substances of no culinary use — ingredients not found in home cooking — such as industrial formulations or cosmetic additives intended to enhance appearance, flavor, or texture.”
On the surface, the article seems informative: it warns against the rise of UPFs in the modern American diet and their clear ties to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. But buried in the details is a chart that makes a bold claim. It categorizes foods from “most healthy” to “least healthy,” and in doing so, places beef and pork (unprocessed, single-ingredient, nutrient-dense foods) firmly in the unhealthy category, while elevating ultra-processed, plant-based meat substitutes as healthier options.
In other words, the AHA is suggesting that beef and pork—foods humans have eaten for thousands of years—are worse for you than a lab-made patty full of additives to enhance appearance, flavor, and texture.
This is where the AHA’s framework collapses under its own contradictions. If ultra-processed foods are defined by food substances of no culinary use, how can plant-based meat built from industrial additives be considered better for you than a locally sourced steak or pork chop, which has none of those things? The evidence doesn’t back it up, and neither does common sense.
The Chart In Question:
In this chart, foods are grouped by both processing level (less processed → more processed) and healthiness (least healthy → healthier). In the less processed “least healthy” red column, you’ll find red meat and pork listed alongside butter, lard, 100% fruit juice, crackers, chips, and even French fries.
Move across the chart, however, and you’ll see something surprising: plant-based meat and dairy alternatives show up in the “healthier” green column.
If the AHA defines ultra-processed foods as products containing “food substances of no culinary use,” then plant-based meats (which are made almost entirely from such additives) should clearly fall into the “least healthy” column. Instead, they are elevated above unprocessed red meat.
This is where the framework collapses. You can’t argue against ultra-processing on one hand, then give ultra-processed plant-based meat credit one paragraph later.
Red Meat Does Not Belong in the Red Column
Red meat has been at the center of conflicting studies and opinions for years, with some experts linking it to increased risks of heart disease and other health issues. But studies show the opposite—red meat is actually good for us. The benefits have been ignored, and the negatives have been blown way out of proportion.
Red meat is actually incredibly nutrient dense, possessing an array of iron, B12, zinc, high-quality protein, and other compounds like creatine and taurine that plant-based alternatives cannot replicate naturally. These nutrients are essential for a balanced diet and help with muscle development, energy production, and overall vitality. Beef is also one of the main sources of Choline, which helps regulate memory, mood, muscle control, and other brain and nervous system functions.
While red meat does contain more saturated fats compared to skinless chicken and fish, recent studies have proven that saturated fats aren’t actually as bad as we once thought. For decades, it was blamed as the main dietary cause of heart disease, sparking the low-fat craze that pushed people toward “diet-friendly” products loaded with refined grains and added sugars. (Ironically, those very foods are now recognized as major contributors to the obesity and diabetes epidemics facing America today, which is something the AHA itself acknowledges in its discussion of ultra-processed foods.)
The Vilification of Saturated Fats In Red Meat
Newer studies have shown that some saturated fats found in red meat could instead offer benefits ranging from increasing beneficial HDL cholesterol, to supporting cellular membrane structure, and can even reduce the risk of a stroke.
If saturated fat is the only reason why beef and pork are shoved into the “least healthy” red column of this chart, then that reasoning is outdated and unsupported by current evidence.
Yes, it is true that processed meats like deli slices and certain types of bacon are not as healthy when consumed in excess, but this chart makes no such distinction. Instead, it casts a wide net and lumps all red meat and pork into the same unhealthy category, ignoring the fact that unprocessed cuts of beef and pork are not only safe to consume but are also some of the most nutrient-rich foods in the world.
The Plant-Based Meat Paradox
Plant-based meats are ultra-processed by definition. They are made with protein isolates, flavor enhancers, stabilizers, and other chemical additives to make them look and taste like real meat. These are exactly the kind of “industrial food substances” the AHA warns against.
“Foods containing industrial additives are high in unhealthy fats, added sugars, and salt…these foods have long been discouraged by US and American Heart Association dietary guidelines,” the article notes.
Yet in this chart, plant-based meat is placed in the green zone as long as their sodium and sugar content is low. That’s a major contradiction. Nutritionally, these products are unproven, and even the AHA acknowledges there isn’t enough evidence to understand their health effects.
The AHA admits, “Although some plant-based UPFs (eg, meat and dairy alternatives) aim to support healthier, more sustainable diets, their net impact remains unclear.”
So why is a steak or pork chop, which has one single ingredient, pushed into the red “least healthy” column, while engineered meat made from a dozen additives, whose health effects we still don’t fully know, gets the benefit of the doubt?
This is especially concerning given what we know about ultra-processed foods. The AHA even acknowledges how research has consistently shown that high UPF consumption is linked to a wide range of health risks, saying “studies found a dose-response relationship between UPF consumption and cardiovascular events, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and all-cause mortality.”
But that’s not all. In 2023, a major study funded by the World Cancer Research Fund found that people who ate more ultra-processed foods had a significantly higher risk of developing cancer, and of dying from it.
With that said, we can confidently conclude that there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that plant-based meats are healthier than a simple steak or pork chop.
The Bigger Issue
The real problem the AHA should be targeting is clear: ultra-processed foods dominate the American diet. By their own estimate, nearly 70% of grocery store items and more than half of the calories consumed in the U.S. come from foods containing additives rarely, if ever, used in home cooking. And that’s not beef or pork, that’s sodas, chips, refined carbs, packaged snacks, frozen convenience foods, and of course…plant-based meat.
These are the products truly fueling the rise of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. We need to stop vilifying steak and pork and start calling out the true threat: the overwhelming wave of ultra-processed junk dominating the modern food supply.
At Good Ranchers, we see it as our responsibility to be a transparent voice in a food system that too often clouds the truth. While others push confusing charts and contradictory guidelines, we focus on what’s real: 100% American beef, chicken, pork, and wild-caught seafood made with one ingredient only—and that’s meat. Shop now and get meat you can trust delivered right to your door.