These 10 "pseudo-healthy" foods that are hyped up will not only rip you off but also make you fat!

As the concept of health has gained popularity, healthy food has become the first choice for many people. In particular, those "healthy foods" that do not require time to cook and can be bought at any time in the mall are even more popular among office workers.

However, many of the "healthy foods" advertised in shopping malls may be "pseudo-healthy foods" . If you buy and eat the wrong ones, not only will they not bring you health, but they will make you fat and even increase your risk of disease.

What are these foods? This article will reveal their true colors.

01

Dried Fruits and Vegetables

We often say that eating more fruits and vegetables is good for health. It is recommended to eat 300-500 grams of vegetables and 200-350 grams of fruits every day. However, for office workers with tight schedules, it is still difficult to eat enough fruits and vegetables every day, so many people choose to eat convenient dried fruits and vegetables.

There are two main types of dried fruits and vegetables on the market, fried dried fruits and vegetables and freeze-dried dried fruits and vegetables. Fried dried fruits and vegetables not only lose a lot of nutrients, but also have problems such as high oil and high salt . For example, the best-selling fruit and vegetable chips of a certain brand shown below have a fat content of up to 32 grams per 100 grams and a calorie content of up to 495 kcal per 100 grams. One pack is almost equivalent to the calories of a meal.

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In comparison, freeze-dried fruits and vegetables are healthier. They not only retain more heat-sensitive and easily oxidized nutrients, but also reduce the loss of volatile aromatic substances, retaining more of the flavor of the ingredients themselves. Studies have shown that the preservation rates of vitamin C, crude protein, and total sugar content of asparagus after vacuum freeze-drying are 63.86%, 80.49%, and 81.68% respectively compared to fresh asparagus. [1]

But no matter which kind of dried vegetables and fruits, they are not as nutritious and healthy as eating fresh vegetables directly . If you really want to eat them, choose freeze-dried vegetables and fruits.

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02

juice

Fruit juice tastes sweet and sour, and many people regard it as a healthy drink. However, fruit juice has a weak satiety effect, so it is easy to drink a lot at once, which will increase the intake of calories and increase the risk of obesity .

Nutrients will also be lost after juicing. If the residue after juicing is discarded, some dietary fiber will be lost . Some common fruits with high vitamin C content will also lose vitamin C after juicing:

When kiwifruit juice is squeezed, the vitamin C retention rate is 88%[2].

When juicing strawberries, the vitamin C retention rate is 71.11%[3].

When juicing oranges, the vitamin C retention rate is 67.24%[4].

However, for fruits such as apples, bananas, watermelons, and peaches whose vitamin C content is not very high, you don't need to worry too much about this issue.

In addition, many fruit juices on the market are not 100% pure juice and may contain added sugar. Some studies have shown that drinking sugar-sweetened fruit juice regularly can increase the risk of diabetes . [5]

So, try to eat whole fruits. If you like juice, drink 100% pure juice and control your intake.

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03

Preserved Fruits

Snacks such as candied fruits have a sweet and sour taste. Since most of the ingredients are fruits, many people think they are healthy snacks.

In fact, most of the preserved fruits on the market are high in sugar, salt and calories . For example, the salt content of 100 grams of a certain brand of hot-selling plums is as high as 7.9 grams. Eating 100 grams of plums at a time directly exceeds the salt intake of less than 5 grams per day recommended by the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents". Frequent consumption will increase the risk of obesity and hypertension.

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04

Whole grain biscuits

The combination of coarse and fine staple foods can not only enhance satiety and stabilize blood sugar after meals, but also allow the intake of more dietary fiber, vitamin B, minerals and other nutrients. Therefore, coarse grain biscuits on the market are regarded as healthy staple foods.

In fact, there are not many whole grains in whole grain biscuits. For example, the whole grain biscuits in the picture below, according to the provisions of China's "General Principles of Nutrition Labeling of Pre-packaged Foods": the order of ingredients should be arranged from most to least . It can be seen that there are not many whole grain ingredients in this biscuit, the most is wheat flour, followed by vegetable oil and white sugar.

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Some commercially available brands of whole grain biscuits have a high fat content. The one in the picture below has a fat content of up to 33 grams per 100 grams. If you eat 100 grams of such biscuits and other dishes throughout the day, the oil intake can easily exceed the 25-30 grams per day of cooking oil recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents.

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Although the dietary fiber content of whole grain biscuits is slightly higher than that of ordinary biscuits, it is still not suitable to be used as a staple food frequently. If you eat such whole grain biscuits as a staple food, it will not only fail to help stabilize blood sugar after a meal, but also make you more likely to gain weight.

If you really want to eat whole grain biscuits, be sure to read the label carefully and choose one with whole grains ranked high in the ingredient list and relatively low in fat and total calories .

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05

Fancy Cereal

Oats are whole grains and are rich in beta-glucan, which can slow down the absorption of glucose into the blood and help control blood sugar.

However, there are many fancy cereals on the market that contain oatmeal and have oatmeal patterns on the packaging, which makes people mistakenly believe that the main ingredient is oatmeal. However, not only are there not many oatmeal ingredients in the ingredient list, but sugar, oil, seasonings and other ingredients are also added .

For example, the ingredient list of the one in the picture below contains the most white sugar and non-dairy creamer. The amount of wheat flour added is more than that of oatmeal, and corn flour, glutinous rice and other ingredients are also added.

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Such fancy cereals are not only high in calories, but also not conducive to blood sugar control . In addition, non-dairy creamer is a trans fatty acid, and eating it often is not good for cardiovascular health.

If you want to eat oatmeal, be sure to read the ingredient list carefully and choose 100% pure oatmeal that only contains oats and is pressed into relatively complete flakes.

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06

Vegetarian Chicken and Duck

Eating too much meat may be bad for your health due to excessive fat intake, so some people have turned their attention to vegetarian chicken and duck, which taste similar to meat.

However, these vegetarian foods do not mean "healthy". They are generally made with soy products or wheat gluten as raw materials. In order to make them taste better, vegetable oil, white sugar, salt and seasonings are added, which may contain higher fat .

For example, the vegetarian chicken wings in the picture below have a fat content of 34.6 grams per 100 grams, which is three times that of normal chicken wings, and 2.4 times the calories of normal chicken wings. The sodium content is not low, which is equivalent to 2.76 grams of salt. As long as you eat 100 grams of such vegetarian chicken wings, the salt intake will reach 56% of the limit of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", and it is easy to exceed the salt limit throughout the day.

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If you eat such vegetarian chicken and duck as health food, there is not only the risk of gaining weight, but also an increased risk of high blood pressure .

07

Fruit yogurt

Fruit yogurt contains both yogurt and fruit, which sounds really healthy. However, this kind of yogurt generally has a high sugar content, high calories, and not many fruit particles. It is not only not conducive to weight control, but also easy to induce tooth decay .

For example, the fruit yogurt of a best-selling brand in the picture below has a calorie content of about 412 kilojoules per 100 grams. Eating a 200-gram bottle will consume 824 kilojoules of calories, which is equivalent to a large bowl of white rice.

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If you want to eat fruit yogurt, you might as well choose sugar-free yogurt and cut some fresh fruit pieces into it. This is not only delicious and healthy, but also lower in calories.

08

Milk drinks

The word "milk" can give people a "healthy" feeling, so milk drinks are also regarded as healthy drinks by many people, thinking that they can drink the same milk ingredients as milk.

In fact, many milk drinks on the market are not healthy drinks. They contain very little milk, but more water, low in protein and high in sugar . For example, if you drink a 250ml box of the milk drink shown below, you will consume about 16 grams of sugar, which is about 4 sugar cubes.

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China's "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" recommends that daily added sugar intake should be controlled below 25g . A bottle of milk drink accounts for more than half of this. Excessive sugar intake will increase the risk of obesity, tooth decay and diabetes.

09

Energy Drinks

It is not reliable to supplement nutrition by drinking "functional drinks". Not only will it fail to supplement the proper nutrition, but it will make your body rounder.

Energy drinks do not just contain water and nutrients; most contain sugar and caffeine . The sugar content is particularly high, with some brands containing up to 37.62 grams of sugar per can. [6]

According to statistics, in 2017 alone, nearly 13,000 deaths in my country were attributed to coronary heart disease and diabetes caused by sweet drinks.

In addition, excessive intake of caffeine can be harmful to health and can easily cause symptoms such as insomnia, panic, and anxiety. It is also addictive.

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10

Walnut milk

Walnut milk is not pure milk, and is not a good choice for calcium and protein supplementation. Walnut milk/oat milk on the market are all modulated milk. According to the national standard, the protein content of modulated milk should be ≥2.3%, while the protein content of pure milk is required to be ≥2.9%. The calcium content of modulated milk is not as good as that of pure milk .

For example, the walnut milk in the picture below has a protein content of only 2.4 g/100 g and a calcium content of only 80 mg/100 g, while the calcium content of milk is 107 mg/100 g. The calcium content of some brands of milk can reach 120 mg/100 g.

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In addition, formula milk generally contains added sugar, which not only increases calorie intake, but also increases the risk of tooth decay and obesity. As for certain fortified nutrients, they can be easily supplemented as long as you pay attention to the combination of diet.

Be careful when buying "healthy foods" on the market. Don't be fooled by "fake health foods"!

References:

[1] Zhu Yunlan, Chen Hongwei, Chen Anhui, Shao Ying, Zhang Cheng, Chen Qiaolin. Effects of different drying methods on the nutritional and quality characteristics of asparagus[J]. Northern Horticulture, 2018(01):129-134.

[2] Pan Linna. Changes of vitamin C in French kiwifruit juice processing[J]. Food Industry Science and Technology, 1993(5).

[3] Lu Daoli, Li Guowen, Chen Shulai, et al. Study on the stability of vitamin C in strawberry juice during processing and storage [J]. Food Research and Development, 2004, 25(006):121-123.

[4] Zhang Zhiping, Pan Zhaoguang. Analysis of vitamin C loss rate in freshly squeezed juice[J]. Guangdong Chemical Industry, 2017(17).

[5]Xi B, Li S, Liu Z, Tian H, Yin 24682091; PMCID: PMC3969361.

[6]https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/LZQtnXf4rWK-yQrSUbakvA

Author: Xue Qingxin, member of Chinese Nutrition Society, registered nutrition technician, health manager, public nutritionist

Review｜Han Hongwei, Researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center

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