Chips: time bomb or harmless snack?

Chips are a fairly popular product today that can be easily purchased in any supermarket. They come in various types: with cheese, pepper, onion, bacon, classic with salt, with sour cream, herbs, with crab and mushrooms. Everyone has heard about the negative impact of this delicacy on the body, but despite this, people are in no hurry to deny themselves the pleasure of enjoying a crunchy snack.

The calorie content of the product is quite high and is approximately 512 kcal per 100 grams.

Composition of the product

Modern snacks practically do not contain natural potatoes. It is replaced by corn and wheat flour, and sometimes by starch, which is genetically modified. In addition, to give the necessary taste, a large number of harmful chemical compounds are added to the product.

Thus, the composition of store-bought chips may include:

• wheat flour;
• mixed vegetable oil;
• corn starch;
• sugar;
• flavoring additives identical to natural ones;
• flavor and aroma enhancer;
• salt.

The harm of chips

The chemical composition of the product, which is replete with various food additives, gluconates, flavorings, and preservatives, speaks louder than any words about the obvious dangers of chips. To reduce the cost of the production process, the chips contain far from natural potatoes, as colorful advertising claims.

Potato flour or flakes are used, and often corn. The calorie content of chips is high due to the fact that they are prepared using a huge amount of oil, and not always vegetable oil. As you already guessed, there is no need to talk about the benefits of chips.

Calories and nutritional value

Chips are cooked in a large amount of fat, which is the reason for their high calorie content.

The approximate calorie content is about 510 kcal per 100 grams of product.

Considering that an adult needs about 1200-1500 calories per day, 100 grams of chips can easily replace one meal. But due to the fact that this product is consumed only as a snack, excess weight gain occurs.

The nutritional value per 100g is as follows:

• Proteins – 6.7 g.
• Fats – 30.5 g.
• Carbohydrates – 53 g.

The approximate calorie content of some types of chips is presented in the table:

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Dates

Nutritionists and healthy lifestyle bloggers often advise replacing sweets with dates. Yes, they contain many useful microelements: 23 types of amino acids, nicotinic acid and riboflavin.

Dates are also rich in calcium and fiber. But in terms of the amount of carbohydrates, they are ahead of even bananas, because 100 grams contain 75 grams of carbohydrates.

Agree that it was not for nothing that the Bedouins took dates with them to the desert to maintain energy.

The calorie content of one date is 25 calories, and one package from the supermarket can reach over 400 calories. Globallookpress.com / Karl Newedel

The calorie content of one date is 25 calories. If you eat at least ten pieces, you will already gain 250 calories. A larger amount can beat even chocolate in terms of calorie content. For example, the calorie content of a milk chocolate bar usually does not exceed 530 calories per 100 grams, and the carbohydrate content is 60 grams.

PP ice cream

Often people who watch their diet and figure prefer to make ice cream from fruits and berries rather than eat the usual cone. But healthy lifestyle ice cream is much higher in calories than dairy ice cream.

Homemade popsicles are much higher in calories than their regular store-bought cup. 5-tv.ru, Globallookpress.com / Digifoodstock.com

What seasonal vegetables and fruits should I buy in May?

Healthy ice cream is usually made from bananas—one fruit contains 95 calories and 21 grams of carbohydrates. Berries are also added, such as strawberries or blueberries. Together with them, a couple of bananas provide about 200 calories. But regular ice cream in a waffle cone has an energy value of about 180 kcal and 20 grams of carbohydrates.

Olive oil

Olive oil itself is very healthy and it is better to dress salads with it than with sunflower oil, but the calorie content of the product is quite high. One tablespoon of olive oil (25-30 grams) contains about 180 calories. Vegetable salad becomes not so dietary.

Nutritionists advise replacing olive oil with flaxseed oil. Although it is not inferior in calorie content, it promotes weight loss and removes toxins from the liver. 5-tv.ru, Globallookpress.com / Imagebroker / Ralph Kerpa, Globallookpress.com / Pfeiffer, J.

Benefit

If you try to look for the benefits of this product, you can note the rich taste, which makes people buy chips. Many people like to combine them with beer.

If you want to enjoy slices of crispy chips, you can try making them yourself at home. This way you can minimize the harm from this tasty product, and get no less pleasure than from store-bought chips. They may even be healthy because they are made from real potatoes.

Properties of chips

How much do chips cost (average price per 1 kg)?

Moscow and Moscow region.

600 rub.

It often happens that people, even knowing in advance about the dangers of a particular product, simply cannot cope with the temptation and still eat it. This statement applies one hundred percent to chips. We think that many have heard more than once or even twice that the benefits of chips are much less than the harm.

Moreover, chips are completely incompatible with such a product as beer, and in modern drinking culture it is potato chips that have become the main beer snack. Children's nutritionists and ardent supporters of healthy eating draw parents' close attention to the high calorie content of chips and complain that it is this product, together with carbonated sweet drinks, as well as fast food, that leads to childhood obesity.

So what tips the scales? Common sense and research that reveals facts confirming the great harm of chips. Or people will turn a blind eye to obvious things and continue to eat delicious and crispy potato poison. Chips are considered a fairly young product because... they were invented completely by accident by the cooks of an American restaurant in the 20th century.

A very picky customer kept returning the fried potatoes to the cook, pointing out that he had cut the potatoes too large. Then the quick-witted master cut the potatoes into thin slices and fried them in boiling oil. The client was simply delighted with the dish served to him. By a lucky coincidence, the fastidious client turned out to be the famous tycoon and tycoon of American business, Mr. Vanderbilt, thanks to whom the famous chips in bags began to be produced.

Harm to adults and children

Through research, it was found that if a healthy person consumes one package of this product daily, then within a month he will have problems with the stomach and intestines: heartburn and gastritis will develop.

Eating crispy potato slices for a longer period will cause cholesterol to accumulate in the body and plaque to form in the blood vessels. The content of a large amount of salt leads to metabolic disorders, causes heart disease, and disrupts bone growth.

Manufacturers, trying to save money, may use frying oil several times. This contributes to the formation of dangerous carcinogens during processing at high temperatures. The harmful carcinogen acrylamide is found in almost all chips. Getting into the body regularly and in large quantities, it contributes to the development of cancer.

This product is especially harmful to children. Eating chips leads to the following consequences:

• due to numerous additives, allergies begin;
• the functioning of the liver, pancreas and kidneys worsens;
• the body's defenses decrease;
• tooth enamel is destroyed;
• metabolism is disrupted;
• obesity develops;
• there is a risk of developing diabetes mellitus;
• bone growth slows down.

The product negatively affects the attention and development of creative abilities of children 4-5 years of age.

Eating chips during pregnancy

This product should not be consumed during pregnancy. Excessive salt content inhibits the development of the baby’s bone system, and in women it provokes thirst, which creates a load on the kidneys. The expectant mother's metabolism is disrupted and swelling appears.

Eating chips is especially harmful in the first trimester, when the formation of the organs and systems of the unborn child occurs. Frequent use of a prohibited product during this period can lead to a child being born with a weakened immune system and a predisposition to various allergic reactions.

If it’s hard to resist and you want to indulge in a unhealthy snack, you can only occasionally allow yourself to eat a small pack of chips. It is better to do this no earlier than the second trimester and no more than once a month.

What are chips and what consumer concerns are associated with them?

Chips (American English chips, from chip - thin piece) are a snack, which are thin slices of potatoes, less often - other root vegetables or various fruits, usually fried in oil (deep-fried).

For information

Classic potato chips are the most popular snack among the population: they are chosen by 63% of consumers, while other snacks (crackers, bread, grain chips) – 25% of consumers, snacks with sauce – 6%, snacks made from corn, wheat or rice flour – 4%, whole grain chips – 2%, salted popcorn – 1%. For 85% of consumers, the main role is played by the taste of chips, 77% pay attention to the brand. Other criteria, such as packaging and cost, are not so important for buyers.

Before launching a special project to study chips, Roskachestvo analysts studied consumer opinions and systematized concerns associated with these snacks.

Main consumer fears:

• Chips are very harmful. During the process of powerful processing that potatoes undergo during the production of chips, they lose all their beneficial properties.
• Chips are fried in the same oil several times.
• Chips are fried not in healthy vegetable oil, but in technical fat. Such fats contribute to an increase in cholesterol levels in the blood and increase the risk of atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, and cancer.
• Due to their high starch (carbohydrate) and fat content, chips are very high in calories.
• Chips made not from whole potatoes, but from potato flour, are especially harmful.
• In the production of chips, GMOs, dyes, flavors, and preservatives are used.
• Chips are full of different flavor enhancers.
• Chips contain acrylamide, which can cause cancer.
• The chips have a very high salt content.

So, many consumers are sure that there is nothing natural in chips except potatoes/starch. Complete “chemistry”, salt and hydrogenated fats. Consumers also express complaints about quality. Chips, according to them, are tasteless and have an off taste and smell. There are a lot of broken, falling apart chips in the packs, and they are not crunchy. Shall we believe it? No, let's check!

In order to find out which of these fears are groundless and which are justified, Roskachestvo experts examined popular potato chips with cheese flavor, Lay's, "Every Day", "Russian Potatoes", "Moscow Potatoes", Pomsticks, Pringles, Kracks, potato chips Naturals chips with parmesan TM Lorenz, potato megachips with sour cream and cheese flavor MegaChips.

Cereal and vegetable chips were also studied for comparison. These are corn chips and nachos with cheese flavors TM Delicados, Santa Maria, Carambas, Happy Nachos, beet TM Kiwa and beet chips with kelp and basil “Zdoroveda”.

Of these, 8 products were produced in Russia, 3 in Poland, and one each from Malaysia, Belgium, Belarus, and Ecuador.

Products were examined in terms of labeling accuracy, safety and quality.