These are the worst products

“Industrial pastries are bad, without nuance. All of them.” How Strong It Is, Author Antonio Rodriguez sinazukar.org book (Pluma de Cristal) and creators of the Carmen IA app, a food barcode scanner that explains the nutritional properties of each analyzed product in an entertaining and informative way. “The only nuance that is offered regarding industrial pastries is the frequency of consumption: nothing will happen if you eat them occasionally, because it is true that it is not healthy, but it is also not toxic.”

Nuria Monfulda, doctor and nutritionist at the LoveYourself Center in Barcelona, ​​has the same opinion, recalling that, “Industrial pastries are not healthy nor can they be recommended in any diet, without exception. Meaning there is no such thing as one good industrial pastry and another bad, no matter how much some fiber-rich cookies try to make us believe otherwise. But we can’t say it’s poisonous: Would be to drink toxic car oil. So if it is consumed occasionally nothing is going to happen, although as a nutritionist, obviously, it would never happen” Industrial pastries as part of a healthy diet Consumption should be recommended.”

In this sense, Rodríguez appeals to common sense. “Is it necessary to give up eating a piece of cake on our birthday? Each person has an answer. For me, the ideal is to build a healthy relationship with both industrial pastries and other ultra-processed pastries, which means not consuming them. This is because, in general terms and although there are nuances that ultimately don’t matter, “pastry is still a combination of refined flour (meaning the good part is removed). Given that is fiber), sugar and unhealthy fats, such as palm fat. This mixture is not at all good for health and some details such as using, let’s say, sunflower oil instead of palm fat, do not change at all.

The consumption of these types of ultra-processed foods is increasing in Spain. According to data from the Spanish Association of Bakery, Pastry and Pastry Industry (ASEMAC), production reached 203,858 thousand kilograms in 2022, representing an increase of 9.01% compared to 2021. The organization joined the collaboration in 2017 to improve the composition of foods and beverages promoted by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) with the aim of reducing the amount of sugar, fat and salt in some foods and beverages. Plan for other measures. For Rodriguez, the industry’s efforts are not only inadequate, but may even be counterproductive: “Many people consume more products that advertise they have less salt or sugar or that they don’t contain palm fat, believing that That they are healthier than others. And the truth is that no matter how much work has been done to improve them, they are still not recommended.”

cookies

Despite what many people think, cookies are industrial pastries and should be treated in the same way as buns, Neapolitans and palmettos. While it is true that we find cookies that contain fiber, other cookies are made with whole wheat flour, with sunflower oil or without added sugar (which usually means they contain sweeteners). , the difference between them is not enough. Rodriguez says, “It’s true that if we study the label in detail, some cookies have better composition, but that’s not what’s important. What’s better, jumping from the 16th floor or jumping from the 18th floor?” Carmen IA herself defines a famous brand of cookies that we scanned as “a runaway train toward the land of ultra-processed foods and added sugar” and adds that “With 68% sugar, it The product takes us straight to the land of deliciousness.” ,

In fact, it should be noted that replacing refined sugar with other sweeteners is also not a panacea. “The only thing we achieve by this feeling is that the palate becomes accustomed to the sweet taste, which is very difficult to get rid of, and our aim for a healthy diet should be the opposite: to accustom the palate to the sweet. Giving up flavors, the original taste of food,” explains Monfulda, for his part, who recalls that “by choosing sweet products we are not doing ourselves any favors.”

According to Rodriguez, “Many people eat cookies for breakfast every day that are advertised as having digestive or high fiber content, thinking they are healthy, without realizing that they contain large amounts of sugar and unhealthy fats. Thus, while traditional cookies are reserved for special occasions or to be eaten in small quantities, in many homes the digestive foods are banned thinking that they are healthy. This is a mistake,” Carmen IA Explains the creator of Monfulada. For a good breakfast, the obvious is: “A whole wheat bread with oil and tomato, some protein to taste, whether egg, tuna or ham, and some healthy fat such as avocado, for example. “

Cereal

In this section we must take into account that some cereal brands “cheat on Nutriscore”, in the words of Rodriguez, which means that we are happy to consume a product with a A without knowing about the tips included in it. Let’s take it home. is used to achieve this. Good score.

NutriScore is a front labeling system intended to provide clear nutritional information to users. “It’s like a nutritional traffic light: it’s a classification system of 5 letters and colors, with the dark green A being the healthiest option and the red E being the worst option, moving through to B, C and D. ,” he explains. Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU).

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angel macia

It should be borne in mind that NutriScore always scores foods of the same family based on an algorithm developed in 2005 by scientists at the University of Oxford, so that “A” does not mean that the product is healthy, but within the group it The one with the best composition,” explains Miguel Ángel Luruena, doctor of food science and technology and author of the blog. oil gummies and from the book Don’t let them mess up your food(Destino, 2021), a guide that teaches, among other things, how to deal with misinformation regarding food.

The creators of Nutriscore themselves had to come forward to clarify that the A does not mean the product is healthy.

miguel angel luruenaAuthor of Oil Gummies

Luruena explains that since the introduction of this labeling “manufacturers have not stopped finding ways to achieve favorable NutriScore scores”, which is achieved by making small modifications to the composition of the food. Breakfast cereals for children are a good example of this. “The system establishes that there are elements that score negatively. They are calories, sugars, saturated fat and salt. Those that give positive ratings are fruits and vegetables, fiber, protein, and nuts,” the authors explain. oil gummies , This means that some brands “add some fiber, remove sugar at the edge of the algorithm and make us believe they’re healthy because they have an A in the Nutriscore,” Rodriguez says. In this sense, Luruena recalls that “the creators of Nutriscore themselves had to clarify that the A does not mean that the product is healthy, but that it is the one with the best composition within the group to which it belongs. “

For Rodriguez, there is one exception when it comes to grains: unsweetened grits or corn. “It is true that many people find it difficult because sweetness changes, but the good news is that if we gradually remove excess sugar from foods we can lower the sweetness threshold,” says Sinazukar. The creator of a portal called org recalls. Designed to reveal the amount of hidden sugar in many commonly consumed foods.

Pastry Shops: False Friends

Another bad news for lovers of these types of ultra-processed foods, who usually read labels looking for a lower percentage of saturated fat or sugar or even fiber or whole wheat flour, is that It’s that bakery products aren’t much better either. … Rodriguez explains: “The pastries we buy at the bakery are no better than the ones we buy at the supermarket. They probably don’t contain preservatives and stabilizers, but that doesn’t make them any healthier.” Rodríguez recalls that the bad thing about pastries is the high content of fats, sugars and poor quality flour, not the additives they can sometimes contain, all of which are approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

“The exposure to additives is called chemophobia, because the ones approved by EFSA are harmless. Therefore, a croissant we buy in a bakery is just as bad as a croissant we buy in the supermarket.” Can an exception be made for newly established artisan bakeries that work with quality ingredients and sourdough dough? “Primarily, they remain fragments that are not recommended within the framework of a healthy diet, because they are composed mostly of fats, sugars and refined flours,” explains Rodríguez, who emphasizes that That “if you’re purely going to eat a pastry occasionally, have one you like. Enjoy it, don’t feel guilty and then continue eating healthy,” says the popularizer.

Industrial Cupcakes

Everyone can name them whatever they want, because every person has his own favorite. Wool guilty pleasure very interestingpackagingBright and attractive, which has historically lured us in with fats and sugars, as well as with their stickers and other marketing strategies. These are all a mixture of refined flour, added sugar, vegetable fats, fat-free cocoa, lactose, stabilizers and emulsifiers and contain large amounts of calories.

Therefore, when the palate demands sweet pleasure it is best to look for other options. The bad news is that homemade cake is also not the best option. “The ideal is to remove these types of products from the diet and leave them for special occasions, whether homemade or industrial. The classic yogurt cake that we eat thinking it is healthy, has also contains refined flour and sugar, so it is not recommended for regular consumption,” Rodriguez concluded.