Bivo vs junk food: the snack

For lunch only a sandwich…and now? I am starving. How many time have you heard this kind of way of speech. Many people often repeat this expression, in the mid of the morning or of the afternoon, when they need something nutritious and quick to eat not to remain without energy. Have you ever asked yourself if the so called snack is the smartest answer to this kind of nutritional need?

First of all, let’s take into consideration the nutritional content of a snack, which normally is a ready-made baked product. The caloric intake deriving from this kind of product can vary from 129 calories of a “sponge cake” snack (6,5% of the recommended average daily intake, which is 2000 calories) to 220 of a chocolate filled croissant (11% of the recommended average daily intake). Therefore, we can safely say that a snack is nutritionally not irrelevant at all, since it covers a considerable part of the quantity of calories which we should intake in 24 hours. Moreover, a snack can weigh between 30 and 50 grams. In a snack of 30 grams, normally as much as 10 are sugars.

Snacks in Italy has spreaded during the years of the economic and demographic boom, starting from the 60ties. They were born from the traditional homemade cakes, which moms were making for their children and husbands. But the degree of diffusion of this kind of food has messed up Italian nutritional habits. In Italy in the 40ties the annual consumption of sugar was about 8 kg per capita, while today it is about 27 kg per capita. The current quantity is considered high by the WHO, which hopes for a reduction of the consumption of added sugars to about 18 kg yearly per capita (which would still be a considerable quantity, almost 10% of the calories of an individual consuming 2000 calories per day).

These products, apart from the caloric aspect, have other collateral effects due to their composition. If you want to prepare at home some croissant, you need just a few ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, sugar, milk and yeast. On the contrary, if you buy a prepackaged croissant you will notice, reading the ingredient list of any of those, that the ingredients are many more.

First of all, many industrial snack contains palm oil, an ingredient which ended up in the eye of the storm a couple of years ago. The bad reputation of palm oil is mainly due to the negative effects it has on the environment, since its production causes deforestation of tropical areas, with the resulting extinction of plant and animal species and the reduction in the production of oxygen, fundamental to contrast CO2 emissions.

In addition, many studies demonstrates how refined palm oil, if taken in high quantity, can lead to problems to the cardiovascular system and high cholesterol, and it is particularly rich in toxic contaminants, potentially carcinogenic.

For all those negative effects, many food companies have been replacing palm oil with hydrogenated fats, like margarine. The fact that oils and plant based fats are hydrogenated means that they have been artificially processed in order to give them a different consistency and to make them more resistant and increase their shelf life. The hydrogenation process, however, generates the so called trans-fatty acids, which, as highlighted in many studies, increase the level of LDL cholesterol (the so called “bad” cholesterol) and not of the HDL (“good” cholesterol), increasing the cardiovascular risk as well.

In summary, both palm oil and hydrogenated fats are potentially dangerous for our health.

Other ingredients which we often find in industrial snacks are thickeners in the category of the polyphosphates (E452) that, interfering with the absorption of mineral salts, can cause the calcification of soft tissues and calcium fixation.

Of course, we are not saying that eating a snack from time to time will be dangerous for your health. Anyway, if you often need to eat something between meals we remind you of the old proverb “an apple a day keep the doctor away”…at least until the next version of Bivo! In fact, we are working on a new product of Bivo which, precisely to give a solution to this kind of need, will contain a reduced caloric content.

Nutritional data regarding snacks are taken from researches made in DISTAM – Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologie Alimentari e Microbiologiche of the University of Milan, on behalf of the Fondazione per lo Studio degli Alimenti e della Nutrizione.

Data regarding the consumption of sugar in Italy have been taken from: “European children’s sugar intake on weekdays versus weekends; A. Svensson, C. Larsson, G. Eiben e altri; Eur J Clin Nutr; 2014”.

Data regarding the effects of palm oil are taken from: “Palm oil and blood lipid-related markers of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of dietary intervention trials; E. Fattore, C. Bosetti, F. Brighenti, C. Agostoni, G. Fattore; The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; 2014”. And from “Merende indigeste – inchiesta sull’olio di palma; S. Ovadia; Altroconsumo; 2016”.  

Data regarding the effect of hydrogenated fats are taken from: “Trans Fatty Acid in Human Nutrition; J. Sebedio, W. Christie; The oily press; 1998”.