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Test your nutrition IQ

01-04-2022

2022

Health articles

That 'healthy option' on the menu isn't always as nutritious as you think. In fact, sometimes the 'bad for you' choice performs better. Good Health; issue 1213; p082 - 085; Text Available

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captionPhotography Getty images / Levi Brown/ Stewart Shining/ trunkarchive. com/ Snapper Media gm1213badp82 - 82 2013-10-14T15:18:18+11:00

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captionNutritional goodnutrition. PhotograPhy Getty imaGes / Levi Brown/ stewart shininG/ trunkarchive. com/ snapper media IQ THE APPLE. UK researchers say apples can be up to four times more damaging for teeth than soft drinks – even the sweetened ones like cola. WHY? Both are acidic, so one explanation is that, provided you don’t swill a fi zzy drink around your mouth, eating an apple creates more opportunity for your teeth to come into contact with the acid in the fruit, compared to having a drink. The study found apple eaters were 3.7 times more likely to have damaged dentine, the structural layer of teeth below the enamel, while soft-drink users didn’t increase their risk. WORK WITH IT: Don’t stop eating apples. The researchers say the key is giving your teeth time to counteract the eff ect, instead of exposing them to acid for a prolonged period. So eat an apple at breakfast or lunch but don’t snack on one throughout the day. WHAT HAS MORE CARBOHYDRATES: Couscous or mashed potato? COUSCOUS – by a fairly big margin. WHY? One cup of couscous contains more than twice the amount of carbohydrate as one cup of mash, even though it looks like the same quantity on a plate. So? It’s a diff erence that adds an extra 443kJ to a meal from carbs alone without you noticing it, roughly the same amount that’s in a glass of white wine. WORK WITH IT: Check how many carbohydrates a serve of a particular food provides, and learn how many you need in a day. On low-activity days, stick to about 3g of carbohydrate per kg of bodyweight, and at least 5g when you exercise for an hour. Here’s a tip: serve moderate or high glycaemic index (GI) carbs, like couscous, with meat or fi sh and lemon juice. Protein and acids both lower the GI of a meal, which will keep you fuller for longer. that ‘healthy option’ on the menu isn’t always as nutritious as you think. in fact, someti

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caption84 while a variety of fats, including saturated, facilitated the absorption of salad nutrients, the best performers were dressings made with monounsaturated fats like olive oil. They required the least amount of fat to do the same job. WHAT INCREASES YOUR ODDS OF GAINING WEIGHT: Eating carbs at CARBOHYDRATES FOR BREAKFAST OR LUNCH Scientists in Israel discovered how people who reserve their carb intake until dinner feel fuller and eat less the following day. After the six-month study, they’d also lost more weight. WHY? The ‘carbs at night’ eating pattern changes the secretion of ‘hunger hormones’. It boosts daytime levels of leptin so you feel fuller for longer, and slows down the release of ghrelin, so hunger strikes later in the day. Levels of adiponectin rise too, which may off er some protection against weight-related health problems like diabetes. WORK WITH IT: Remember that dinnertime isn’t midnight. According to a US study, regardless of the type of food you serve up, if you eat it when your body is meant to be asleep, you increase your chances of putting on weight. WHAT MAKES A SALAD MORE HEALTHY: Fat-free or regular REGULAR DRESSING. Last year US researchers discovered that without a splash of fat, the body doesn’t absorb some key salad nutrients like lycopene, lutein and beta-carotene, which lower the risk of numerous diseases, including cancer. WHY? The nutrients are carotenoids, fat-soluble pigments the body can’t use without a little fat, something salad vegies don’t usually contain so the dressing needs to provide it. “If you have a salad with a fat-free dressing, there are fewer kilojoules, but you lose some of the benefi ts of the vegetables,” says study author Associate Professor Mario Ferruzzi. WORK WITH IT: ‘Fat’ doesn’t mean ‘creamy’. The scientists found that CHEESE, even though eggs and prawns contain cholesterol and cheese is typically

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caption85 THE RESTAURANT THAT LISTS SOME HEALTHIER OPTIONS. When researchers in the US added a salad to a typical fast-food line up, almost everyone ordered the unhealthiest item on the menu, which didn’t happen when the only options were unhealthy ones. And the eff ect was strongest among people who typically showed good self-control over food. WHY? People who usually make nutritious food choices feel relieved to see a healthy WHAT IS WORSE FOR YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE: Cornfl akes, corn chips or roasted peanuts with salt? CORNFLAKES. WHY? When you compare a 30g serve of all three, the cornfl akes contain 44 per cent more sodium than the nuts and 57 per cent more than the corn chips. High-sodium diets are a risk factor for high blood pressure, but despite that, the average Australian consumes more than double the amount of sodium recommended to prevent heart disease. WORK WITH IT: Try to stick to consuming less than 1600mg of sodium per day. That’s roughly a teaspoon of salt. A 30g serve of cornfl akes takes up about 10 per cent of that on its own because processed foods often contain much more salt than you’d expect, even if they don’t taste particularly salty. ‘Low-salt’ foods should contain less than 120mg of sodium per 100g – cornfl akes contain four and a half times that amount. option on traditionally unhealthy menus, and subconsciously allow themselves to give in to temptation as a result. In scientifi c circles, the phenomenon is called ‘vicarious goal fulfi lment’. WORK WITH IT: Don’t just consider the salad – choose it. But if you do decide to indulge, don’t ‘supersize’ the meal: Australian researchers say an upsized meal that costs just 16 per cent more means eating 56 per cent more fat and 53 per cent more sugar. Your memory: Choose the CHOCOLATE DRINK. Italian researchers found the more cocoa a dairy-based drink contained, the better people performed