jeffstier
Thu, Jul-13-06, 06:20
Health Facts And Fears
June 30, 2006
Baked Snacks Not Necessarily Healthier
By Jeff Stier, Esq.
"Baked" chips and crackers are all the rage today.
Egged on by the food police, people think they are doing the
healthier thing -- and are willing to sacrifice and eat the
baked snacks. However, those sacrifices are in vain, since
baked and regular chips often have the same amount of
calories. Worse, people expecting to avoid weight gain with
baked items may end up eating more crackers -- and thus more
calories -- because they think they are eating a diet food.
"Hey, it's baked, not fried. I'm being so good!"
But in fact, thirty-one grams of Nabisco's Wheat Thins Baked
Snack Original have the same 150 calories (50 from fat, 1 from
saturated fat) as Nabisco's Wheat Thins Original. Whether you
add the oil in the batter or in the frying pan, it still
"winds up in the same place," as they say.
The food industry will market whatever consumers will buy,
whether it's a "super-sized" Big Mac or a "healthy" cracker.
They are like any other industry -- responding to incentives.
Don't blame the food companies for their slick marketing --
they are just doing what they do. But now that we know what
they do, we should be wary of what the food police do -- scare
us into making decisions that don't do us much good, like
switching to baked to assuage our fatty-foods guilt.
Sure, if the baked chips are whole wheat as opposed to the
more fun "original," they'll pack a more nutritional bang for
the calorie. But they won't do much to help keep you as thin
as those wheat thins.
Whether you are a consumer of crackers or of dubious "health
news," the golden rule still applies: buyer beware.
Jeff Stier, Esq., is an associate director of the American
Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org,
HealthFactsAndFears.com), which has reported before on
nutrition labels that lack context.
This information was found online at:
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.788/news_detail.asp
June 30, 2006
Baked Snacks Not Necessarily Healthier
By Jeff Stier, Esq.
"Baked" chips and crackers are all the rage today.
Egged on by the food police, people think they are doing the
healthier thing -- and are willing to sacrifice and eat the
baked snacks. However, those sacrifices are in vain, since
baked and regular chips often have the same amount of
calories. Worse, people expecting to avoid weight gain with
baked items may end up eating more crackers -- and thus more
calories -- because they think they are eating a diet food.
"Hey, it's baked, not fried. I'm being so good!"
But in fact, thirty-one grams of Nabisco's Wheat Thins Baked
Snack Original have the same 150 calories (50 from fat, 1 from
saturated fat) as Nabisco's Wheat Thins Original. Whether you
add the oil in the batter or in the frying pan, it still
"winds up in the same place," as they say.
The food industry will market whatever consumers will buy,
whether it's a "super-sized" Big Mac or a "healthy" cracker.
They are like any other industry -- responding to incentives.
Don't blame the food companies for their slick marketing --
they are just doing what they do. But now that we know what
they do, we should be wary of what the food police do -- scare
us into making decisions that don't do us much good, like
switching to baked to assuage our fatty-foods guilt.
Sure, if the baked chips are whole wheat as opposed to the
more fun "original," they'll pack a more nutritional bang for
the calorie. But they won't do much to help keep you as thin
as those wheat thins.
Whether you are a consumer of crackers or of dubious "health
news," the golden rule still applies: buyer beware.
Jeff Stier, Esq., is an associate director of the American
Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org,
HealthFactsAndFears.com), which has reported before on
nutrition labels that lack context.
This information was found online at:
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.788/news_detail.asp