What exactly do we absorb when we eat a bag of puffed food?

In today's world of healthy eating,

Although various puffed foods are delicious,

But it has always been labeled as an "unhealthy snack".

What is the reason?

Let us uncover the secret together

The truth about “unhealthy” puffed foods!

Various types of puffed foods and their processing technology

Puffing refers to the process in which the raw materials expand in volume or become loose in texture after being treated with high temperature or pressure difference. Different processing methods are used for different types of puffed foods. Puffed foods can be divided into "oil-containing puffed foods" and "non-oil-containing puffed foods". Oil-containing puffed foods refer to puffed foods that are fried with edible oil, or that are added or sprayed with edible oil during production; non-oil-containing puffed foods refer to puffed foods that do not have edible oil added or sprayed in the product.

Puffed foods can be divided into five categories according to the processing technology, namely baked, fried, directly extruded, colorful and other types. At present, extrusion technology is the main technology for producing puffed foods internationally. What are the differences between different processing technologies? What kind of processing technology is used to make the snacks we are familiar with? Let's take a look!

1. Baking type: grind the raw materials into powder, add water and steam to make a paste, and use a machine to press it into a specific shape as a blank. After the blank is dried, it is sprayed with edible oil and then baked with hot air or hot sand. The water in it expands due to heat and forms puffing.

Typical foods: potato chips, shrimp crackers, popcorn, snow cakes

2. Fried type: grind the raw materials into powder, add water and steam to make a paste, and use a machine to press it into a specific shape as a blank. After the blank is dried, it is fried in edible oil to form a puffed dough.

Typical foods: potato chips, buckwheat chips, corn cobs, corn flakes

Potato chips (fried)

3. Direct extrusion type: The raw materials are extruded by an extruder. Under high temperature and high pressure conditions, the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the extruder is used to vaporize the water in the raw materials to form expansion.

Typical foods: highland barley rice sticks, millet sticks, Taiwanese-style black rice crisps

4. Color type: puffed food made with baked, fried or directly extruded products as the base, and sandwiched, injected or coated with auxiliary materials such as oil, sauce or nuts.

Typical foods: multi-grain fruit, rice crackers with fillings

5. Other types: using microwave, airflow or vacuum to form expansion.

Typical food: Microwave popcorn

Microwave popcorn (other types)

After reading the principles of the above processing technology, I wonder if you have found that it seems that only the baking and frying processes can be associated with "unhealthy". In fact, the puffing process is a very good physical processing method for coarse grains. It can not only change the appearance of the original grains, but also improve the taste of the original grains, so that people will not find it difficult to swallow when eating them. Moreover, the food made by the puffing process has the advantages of not being easy to regenerate, less loss of nutrients, and easy digestion and absorption.

The original sin of unhealthy nutrients

In the nutritional composition table, energy and the four core nutrients "protein, fat, carbohydrates, and sodium" are mandatory items to be labeled. If hydrogenated and/or partially hydrogenated fats are contained in the ingredients or used in the production process, the content of trans fat (acid) should also be labeled. Trans fatty acids are unhealthy fats that can cause blood clots, coronary heart disease, obesity, and affect memory.

Nutrient Reference Values ​​(NRVs) are used to indicate the percentage of energy and nutrient content in the daily reference intake. Taking the protein in fresh shrimp strips as an example, eating 30 grams of shrimp strips will ingest 2.1 grams of protein, accounting for 4% of the total protein required by the human body for the whole day. The nutrient content of fresh shrimp strips and cheese-flavored corn chips is indicated by "portions" (the size of 1 portion can be determined according to the characteristics of the food or the recommended amount). Based on the net content of 80 grams of fresh shrimp strips and 140 grams of cheese-flavored corn chips, we can calculate the percentage of nutrients obtained from eating a bag of puffed food in the total nutrition required by the human body for the whole day.

It can be seen from the data in the nutrition reference table of puffed foods that by eating a bag of fresh shrimp strips or a bag of cheese-flavored corn chips, the energy (converted into calories when entering the body), fat, carbohydrates, and sodium (the main element of salt) consumed by the human body are close to or even exceed those of a regular meal.

In order to ensure a rich taste, a large amount of oil and salt must be added to puffed foods. Coupled with the rich carbohydrates in the raw materials, puffed foods are "high in calories", "high in fat", "high in carbohydrates" and "high in salt".

Have we found the truth about why puffed foods are unhealthy? No, let's continue reading.

The secrets on the ingredient list of puffed food

Potato chips, corn chips, millet rice crackers, yam slices, barbecue shrimp crackers, cheese flavor, cucumber flavor, salt and pepper flavor, crayfish flavor, what are the seasonings used in these flavors? What food additives are used? What do we absorb when we eat a bag of puffed food? The ingredient list on the back of the package can tell us. Below, we take the most commonly consumed fresh shrimp crackers as an example to analyze the ingredient list of puffed food.

Fresh shrimp crackers ingredients list:

Food ingredients: wheat flour, starch, vegetable oil, shrimp

Seasoning: compound seasoning (white sugar, edible salt, MSG)

Food additives: flavor enhancer (disodium 5'-ribonucleotide), anti-caking agent (silicon dioxide), emulsifier (glyceryl monostearate), leavening agent (sodium bicarbonate), leavening agent, flour treatment agent (calcium carbonate), coloring agent (cochineal red, gardenia yellow)

From the ingredient list, we know that another important reason why puffed food is unhealthy is the food additives in it. Disodium 5'-ribonucleotide, silicon dioxide, and glyceryl monostearate will cause harm to the human body if consumed for a long time.

In addition, some leavening agents containing aluminum were also a reason for the unhealthy state of puffed foods. Excessive intake of aluminum by children can damage their nervous system, thus affecting their intellectual development. Now, leavening agents containing aluminum have been banned, but trace amounts of aluminum are still detected in puffed foods. Possible sources include containers for storing raw materials, pipelines for processing equipment, packaging bags, etc.

To sum up, the processing method of puffed food is not the main reason why it is unhealthy. The main problem is the high calories, high fat, high carbohydrates and high salt caused by the raw materials and seasonings, as well as the addition of a lot of food additives.

But you don't have to worry too much. If the content of food additives in puffed food is within the national regulations, it is safe. In addition, if we eat too much puffed food, it will affect our normal diet. Therefore, we must control our appetite, have a good diet, adhere to a balanced diet and moderate exercise every day to stay healthy.

Author: Zhang Likui (CEC Food Safety Testing Consumer Experience Center)

Source: Knowledge is Power Magazine