Grazers’ guide to better snacking
It’s no small feat to un-junk junk foods, but here’s a quick guide through the latest in healthful snacking -- plus some hidden pitfalls:
*
Portion control
One of the easiest ways to eat more healthfully is simply to eat less. With 100-calorie snack packs, consumers get a little boost of self-control, and manufacturers don’t need to change recipes. Most major snack food companies have introduced 100-calorie snack packs over the last couple of years, including Frito-Lay, Quaker, Nabisco, Pringles, Nestle and Hershey. In 2005, more than 500 new products arrived in handy single-serving portions.
The 100-calorie-pack strategy helps us restrict our calorie intake because we’re surprisingly susceptible to packaging, says Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State University and author of “The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan.”
Her lab showed this in a 2004 experiment with potato chips: When volunteers were handed big bags of chips for an afternoon snack, they scarfed down significantly more than when they had small bags. But the big eaters didn’t compensate at dinner: Munching from a 6-ounce bag led people to eat about 140 calories more for snack and dinner combined than did snacking out of a 1-ounce bag.
*
Switching fats
With all the recent fuss about trans fats -- a type of fat notoriously linked to cholesterol problems and heart disease -- and new trans-fat product labeling requirements in 2006, food manufacturers have begun substituting those partially hydrogenated oils and fats with trans fat-free oils that will give food a similar texture and shelf life. In an ideal world, getting rid of trans fats would improve Americans’ health. For instance, a Harvard study estimated last year that up to 228,000 heart attacks could be prevented annually if artificially produced trans fats were eliminated from Americans’ diets.
But trans-fat free doesn’t mean low-calorie -- or even fat-free, says Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. And it doesn’t magically make potato chips healthful.
*
Reducing fats
Some product developers are choosing to forgo high-fat frying altogether, Prakash says, and instead are creating baked products, which require less fat overall. (Prakash and a former student have developed a baked trans fat- and saturated fat-free snack called Pizzettos, currently being sold in the Los Angeles Unified School District.)
Another lower-fat method involves puffed air, Prakash says. The process involves cooking a grain mixture with a small bit of oil and a lot of water under high pressures. As the mixture shoots through a small opening, the water vaporizes, leaving behind a crispy product with lots of little air bubbles and relatively little fat.
Those air bubbles might actually be the most healthful part. Studies have shown that Americans tend to eat the same amount of food every day -- the same weight and volume, that is, but not the same number of calories. That means big-volume foods such as fruits and vegetables might actually satisfy with fewer calories than denser foods such as pretzels or chocolate. Rolls’ lab recently tested this with puffy snack foods in a study to be published next month.
Volunteers in the experiment received bags of either Cheetos Puffs or its denser version, Cheetos Crunchy, and were told to eat as much as they liked. People ended up eating a bigger volume of Puffs than Crunchy Cheetos. Although much of that volume was air, they still felt just as satisfied afterward -- and they ate about 70 fewer calories with the puffy snacks.
Potential downside: Although harmless, puffed air doesn’t have much in the way of anything nutritious. Water-rich foods such as carrots can provide a similar sensory deception of large portions -- and provide some welcome hydration and vitamins.
*
Natural/organic
In 2005, 571 new snack food products hit the shelves with the word “natural” or “organic” on the package -- nearly twice as many as in 2001. Rather than being a health claim in itself, natural ingredients and organic origins can help ease the guilt of shoppers drawn to indulgent snacks. Sales of Kettle Foods’ Kettle potato chips (with “no artificial whatchamacallits,” its website boasts) jumped 28% in 2005, for example, while overall potato chips sales grew by only 1%, according to Packaged Facts’ analyses. Similarly, sales of Hain Celestial’s Garden of Eatin’ organic tortilla chips grew by 11%, compared with 0.5% for tortilla chips overall.
“These labels can give products a health halo,” says Brian Wansink, author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think” and director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University. At the least, he says, new natural and organic claims can help companies generate feel-good media attention about their products. At worst, they can lead shoppers into thinking the snacks are lower in calories.
*
Whole grains/high fiber
The super-low-carb Atkins craze may be waning, but whole-grain and high-fiber labels are still magnets for health-savvy shoppers. In an Information Resources Inc. survey, 46% of respondents ranked “whole grains” as an important attribute in choosing a snack. In 2001, 33 new “high fiber” snack products were introduced; in 2005, that number had more than tripled, to 106 new high-fiber products.
And since last spring, the Whole Grains Council allows manufacturers to use new council-certified labels to prominently display the number of grams of whole grains products contain. Nabisco’s whole-grain line includes Chips Ahoy! cookies, Fig Newtons and Wheat Thin crackers. In December, Snyder’s of Hanover introduced whole-grain pretzels, tortilla chips and other snack foods.
Depending on the type of snack, switching to whole grains can be challenging, says Mary Ellen Carmire, professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Maine. The same parts of the grain that add vitamins and fiber can also change the taste and texture of food.
Corn is an easy whole grain to use, Carmire says, so manufacturers are rolling out more and more whole grain tortilla chips. Wheat is more challenging. Traditional whole redwheat has a different texture, dark color and a strong taste. Milling companies are experimenting with pulverizing the grains to get a flour that’s milder, softer and whiter than traditional whole wheat flour. “It’s not clear whether this flour will have exactly the same health benefits as before, but it will still have the same chemical composition,” Carmire says.
Whole-grain snacks can be a reasonable alternative to regular snacks, Wootan says, as long as consumers don’t lose sight of what they’re eating. “One of my new favorites is whole-grain cookies. But I’m still not going to pack them in my daughter’s lunch,” she says. “They’re still cookies.”
Three Chips Ahoy! whole-grain cookies will give you 13 grams of whole grains -- more than a quarter of the USDA daily recommendation of 48 grams. But that serving also provides 2.5 grams of saturated fat -- 13% of the daily recommended dose.
*
Fruits and vegetables
Americans still aren’t eating enough fruits and vegetables, according to two recent reports. Some manufacturers are betting consumers will eat more -- or at least feel less guilty about their paltry vegetable intake -- if they were embedded in crispy snack foods. Last fall, Kraft introduced Roasted Vegetable Ritz Crackers, made with parsley, peppers and carrots. In February, Frito-Lay rolled out its Flat Earth line of three fruit chips and three veggie chips, with flavors such as Tangy Tomato Ranch and Peach Mango Paradise.
No matter what exotic flavor a snack’s name evokes, manufacturers can often boost the fruit and vegetable content by relying on easy-to-manipulate, mild-tasting standards such as potatoes, apples and carrots, Carmire says. Small quantities of other fruits and veggies could then provide the flavor punch -- and the label appeal.
As long as there’s a smidgen of fruit or vegetables inside, products can claim to be “made with real fruit” or “made with vegetables.” Wary shoppers should flip over the package and check the ingredients, Carmire says. Fruits or vegetables listed in the first four ingredients are a good bet you’re getting the real thing.
But snacks made with fruits and vegetables aren’t necessarily as low in calories as whole fruits and vegetables. For example, a 1-ounce serving of Flat Earth’s Apple Cinnamon Grove Crisps gives consumers about a half a serving of fruit, 130 calories, 4.5 grams of fat and two grams of fiber. A medium apple, on the other hand, is a full serving of fruit, has about 70 calories, 0 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber -- with lots of sensory-tricking water as well.
*
Vitamins, etc.
Skipping the food ingredients and just enriching snack foods with healthful chemicals is another strategy. In 2005, Mars released a line of chocolate and snack foods fortified with cocoa flavanols (the chemicals behind dark chocolate’s recent heart-healthy publicity) and soy plant sterols (chemicals linked to lower cholesterol levels), as well as calcium and vitamins. Last spring, Right Directions Cookies, with plant sterols and added fiber from psyllium (extracted from plant seeds husks and also found in bulkers such as Metamucil), entered the market with chocolate chip cookies billed as a “first-line option” for people struggling with cholesterol.
But calories, not vitamins, are our main problems, says Marion Nestle, nutrition professor at New York University and author of “What to Eat.” “Most Americans are not vitamin deficient.”
Most of us eat enough variety that we’re not missing basic nutrients. Added vitamins certainly can’t hurt our bodies, but they can distract our brains from how many calories are in our treats in the first place.
