This is a great point and one that I think would change many minds.
If you say "more calories" or "hyperpalatable", many people will think "I can control that with portion control - I just won't binge them."
But if you say "it changes the physical form of the food" or "it has contaminants in it," it's clear that no amount of portion control can fix that.
Well that depends on what the form change does. Most form changes are just fine.
And whether portion control can fix contamination depends on what the contaminant is. A lot of things are only potentially harmful above a certain level.
> Well that depends on what the form change does. Most form changes are just fine.
Agreed, I just think that e.g. mastication probably has more subtle effects than just breaking up food, so I wonder about peanut butter vs peanuts kind of effects on the human body.
> A lot of things are only potentially harmful above a certain level.
I question this. I think the more we see trace effects, the more we realize that there are things in the built environment that are problematic in parts per billions and parts per millions that we wouldn't have ever thought that from acute exposure testing. I think a lot of our current understanding of GRAS and friends is pretty badly flawed - obviously a lot of substances aren't doing massive harm, but there's a lot that's suspect still.