Reading an ingredient list can feel like decoding a chemistry textbook.  Long words, tricky pronunciations, and it’s easy to think: If it sounds weird, it must be bad. And this happens to us every day with ultra-processed foods, the bad guys of this era packed with hard-to-pronounce ingredients.

But is it like that? Does a complicated name mean it is a harmful ingredient? Are all ultra-processed products bad? 

Spoiler alert: science has something interesting to say. 

What if we wrote out the ingredient list of, let's say, a banana 🍌?

🍌 What’s really in a banana

Fruits aren’t as simple as they seem. They may look pure and clean, but their chemical composition is far from basic.

If we list out the components of a banana, it would look something like this:

Water, carbohydrates (sugars, fiber, starch), potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, proteins, fats, vitamin C, vitamin B6, folate, isoamyl acetate, hexanal, butyl acetate, dopamine, phenolic acids, triterpenoids, catecholamines, leucocyanidins, serotonin.

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Yep, bananas contain dopamine and serotonin, the same neurotransmitters linked to well-being.

But wait—there’s also hexanal in there. Should we be alarmed? Of course not. That’s just the scientific name chemists use to describe its structure.

If we judged a banana by its “ingredient list”, it might sound more like a science experiment than a healthy snack. And yet… no one questions whether a banana is good for you.

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🥛 Cow’s milk is also a complex food

Water, lactose, fat (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated), proteins (casein, whey), calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B12, riboflavin, diacetyl, butyric acid, conjugated linoleic acid, sphingolipids, lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin.

Wait—diacetyl and butyric acid? Those names might sound scary, but they’re natural compounds that contribute to milk’s aroma and flavor.

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🌱 And what about something produced in the food industry—like NotMilk?

Now let’s look at NotMilk, a plant-based alternative designed to replicate the sensory experience of dairy milk. Its ingredients?  Water, sunflower oil, pea protein, sugar, coconut oil, pineapple and cabbage extracts. Water, pea protein, chicory fiber, sugar, pineapple and cabbage extracts, calcium phosphate, sunflower oil, acacia gum, gellan gum, salt, natural flavors, vitamin D2, B12.

Yes, it’s a designed product and has various ingredients—but does it sound different from a banana or cow’s milk? No, right? And here’s the key: it’s not about how long or hard to pronounce is its ingredient list, or whether a food is “processed” or “natural”—it’s about evaluating its nutritional content and how it impacts your health.

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🔍 Don’t fear ingredients—focus on quality

Foods, whether natural or elaborated, are made up of a wide range of compounds that play essential roles in our bodies.

So instead of panicking over hard-to-pronounce names, let’s ask better questions:

✅ Does it have good nutritional value?

✅ Is it formulated to be well-balanced?

✅ Is it suitable for my diet?

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Food innovation has come along way—allowing us to create better products without sacrificing taste or accessibility.

Want to improve a product or develop something with superior nutritional quality?

Our tech, Giuseppe AI, can handle all these variables in real time and help you design a next-level product—using quality ingredients to deliver better nutrition while meeting modern consumer needs: delicious, healthy, and accessible.

By the way… our NotMilk delivers around 3 grams of protein per serving, plus essential nutrients like calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, and vitamin B12 – all without cholesterol or lactose

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