Ultra-Processed Foods Are Back in the Headlines — What It Means for Your Supplement Cabinet
Ultra-processed food is having another moment in the health press, and not a flattering one. Recent research has linked higher UPF intake to a greater risk of heart disease and early death, adding to a growing body of evidence that’s hard to keep dismissing as noise. Separately, new studies into ageing and diet have shown that shifting toward lower animal protein and more plant-based sources — with just enough of the right amino acids — can meaningfully improve markers tied to biological ageing, with some effects showing up in as little as four weeks.
Put together, the message is consistent: what’s actually in your food and supplements is starting to matter to consumers as much as what it claims to do.
The uncomfortable irony
Here’s the thing a lot of people don’t clock: plenty of “health” and “performance” supplements are themselves ultra-processed products. Proprietary blends, artificial fillers, undisclosed ratios, and ingredient lists designed to look impressive rather than be transparent — it’s an industry that has, in places, been just as guilty of the exact problem the headlines are now calling out in food.
Why we built Ten Percent Club differently from day one
When we started this brand from a spare bedroom with no funding and no industry contacts, the founding decision wasn’t a product — it was a standard. Every formulation is Informed Sport-certified, every dose is disclosed rather than hidden, and there are no unnecessary fillers padding out a label. That wasn’t a marketing angle at launch, and it isn’t one now — it’s just increasingly what the research is telling people to look for anyway.
What to actually check on a label
• Is the full dosing disclosed, or hidden behind a “proprietary blend”?
• Is there third-party certification (like Informed Sport) behind the claims?
• Are the fillers doing anything for you, or just bulking out the product?
As the evidence against ultra-processed, opaque products keeps mounting — in food and in supplements — the brands that were already being transparent won’t need to change a thing. That’s exactly the position we set out to be in.
