The use of the term "processed" is logically silly. If the people who process a food change it by adding or omitting ingredients that cause an undesired side effect, it is those ingredients, not the general fact of processing, that are the problem. For example, a processed food with added salt may have the undesired side effect of hypertension. A food processed in exactly the same way but without added salt would not affect hypertension. There is no clear meaning about what "processed" means since there is a huge variation in how foods are "processed".

Take the age old method of food preservation by drying.  I suppose nobody would call that ultra-processed. But what about freeze drying?

In at least some cases the purpose behind a processing technique is to prevent a possible undesired effect. Pasteurization is a case in point. There is a small but vocal group who campaign against pasteurization, regardless of actual data, and they will surely take encouragement from this story about "ultra-processed foods".

In a similar way, the use of preservatives should not be collected into a single category. Obviously each preservative is different and some may have undesirable side effects which others don't. But the side effect of NOT using a preservative may be that the food is slightly spoiled and dangerous to eat.