Claim Verification: "All ultra-processed foods are inherently unhealthy and should be avoided completely." — Disproved

Automated fact-verification of the claim: "All ultra-processed foods are inherently unhealthy and should be avoided completely." Verdict: DISPROVED Key Findings The claim is compound: both "all UPFs are inherently unhealthy" (SC1) and "should be avoided completely" (SC2) must hold. Both are disproved. SC1 disproved (3/3 sources verified): The NHS explicitly names ultra-processed foods — wholemeal sliced bread, wholegrain cereals, baked beans — that "can be included in a healthy diet." A peer-reviewed nutrition journal article states "there are good and bad diets, not good and bad foods," directly rejecting the per-food framing. SC2 disproved (3/3 sources verified): WHO, NHS, and Harvard all use reduction language ("limit," "eating less," "pros and cons") — not absolute avoidance. No major health authority recommends eliminating all ultra-processed foods entirely. The strongest observational evidence (BMJ 2019, n = 19,899) shows a dose-dependent association at high consumption levels (≥4 servings/day), not an absolute harm at any level. It is explicitly noted as observational, not causal. > Note: 2 citations (B1, B4) come from nhs.uk, which is classified as tier 2 (unclassified domain) by the automated credibility scorer. The NHS is the UK's national health service and is an authoritative health body; the tier-2 classification reflects a limitation of the domain-based scoring system, not the source's actual authority. See Source Credibility Assessment in the audit trail. Files proof.py — Re-runnable Python verification script proof.md — Structured proof report proof_audit.md — Full verification audit trail proof_narrative.md — Plain-language summary proof.json — Machine-readable structured data Generated by Proof Engine v1.0.0.