For a healthy fruit snack, what would you choose?

-

 

For a healthy fruit snack, what would you choose?




Next time you're packing lunch for your kid or reaching for a healthy afternoon bite, consider this: only three types of fruit snacks -- dried fruit, fruit puree, and canned fruit with juice -- meet the latest recommendations for high-nutrition snacks set by federal dietary guidelines, according to research by the University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientists.

Of all the commercially available fruit snacks, defined by the USDA as "products made with fruit and fruit juices, which may or may not contain added sugar, artificial colors and flavors, and preservatives," the UMass Amherst team found that dried fruit has the best overall nutritional profile -- the highest nutrient density and fiber content, and the lowest added sugar.

Conversely, fruit-flavored snacks such as gummies have the lowest nutrient density and fiber content and the highest amount of added sugar. Other fruit snack options with low nutrient density include canned fruit packed in something other than juice and dried flavored fruit, which contain higher amounts of added sugar. The food comparison study, led by food scientists Amanda Kinchla, extension professor, and Alissa Nolden, assistant professor, was published recently in Nutrients.

While eating fresh fruit is undoubtedly the healthiest option, 80% of the U.S. population does not consume the daily amount of fruit servings (five) recommended by federal dietary guidelines. So, one strategy for consumers to increase fruit in their diet is to choose nutrient-dense fruit snacks.

"It's not fresh fruit but the snacking products that people are more customarily consuming," Kinchla says.

The researchers decided to investigate which fruit snacks are the most nutritious—the first time this type of study has been undertaken. They collected and analyzed the nutritional content of 1,497 fruit snacks using the Mintel Global New Products Database, accessed through UMass Libraries. For their study, the team defined fruit snacks as "non-frozen, non-beverage food products mainly made with fruit ingredients."

They used the Nutrient Rich Foods (NRF) Index, which calculates an overall nutrition quality score based on the nutrient profile of foods, to compare the healthfulness of fruit snacks. This model considers desirable nutrients—protein, dietary fiber, potassium, vitamin D, calcium, and iron—as well as those that are recommended to be limited in the diet—saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugar, and sodium—to assess the overall nutrient quality of each fruit snack.

"We were trying to connect the dots between all the nutrients, which is the advantage of the NRF -- to be able to look at multiple nutrients at the same time," Nolden says.

The team classified the fruit snacks into nine categories: dried fruit, fruit-based bar, dried flavored fruit, canned fruit, fruit-flavored snack, fruit puree, fruit chips, formed fruit, and canned fruit with juice.

In addition, they looked at the nutritional value per serving size. They calculated added sugar and fiber content based on the FDA's Reference Amount Customarily Consumed (RACC) per eating occasion to balance the serving variability among different fruit snack categories.

Their goal was to determine the healthfulness of fruit snacks and see where improvements could be made.

"With Alissa's consumer insight and understanding of perceptions and sensory analysis, we can try to understand consumers' acceptance and limitations and then design foods that would better cater to that, so that we can then bolster health and wellness platforms," Kinchla says.

The paper concludes, "ReformulReformulationt snacReformulation Formed fruit and fruit-based bars could be lower in added sugar to become a more nutritious fruit snack option. Canned fruit [with added sugar] and fruit-flavored snacks need more reformulation. The reformulation has reformulation density and fiber content and is high in added sugar. Improving the nutritional quality of fruit snacks can facilitate intelligent snacking choices.

"Future direction for the fruit snack category should consider decreasing added sugar content, increasing fiber content and enhancing sensory profile to improve the overall nutrient density."


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PEOPLE WITH OBESITY BURN LESS CALORIES DURING THE DAY

-
Image
  PEOPLE WITH OBESITY BURN LESS CALORIES DURING THE DAY Building on prior studies with healthy-weight participants, the new research includes different body sizes.         New research indicates that weight influences how and when bodies burn energy. An Oregon Health & Science University study published in the journal  Obesity  found people who have a healthy weight use more energy during the day, when most people are active and eat, while those who are obese spend more energy during the night when most people sleep. The study also found that during the day, those with obesity have higher levels of the hormone insulin -- a sign that the body is working harder to use glucose, an energy-packed sugar. "It was surprising to learn how dramatically the timing of when our bodies burn energy differed in those with obesity," said the study's first author, Andrew McHill, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the OHSU School of Nursing and the Oregon Institute of ...
Read more

WHAT CAUSES ITCHING, AND WHAT STOPS IT?

-
Image
  WHAT CAUSES ITCHING, AND WHAT STOPS IT?         It can be a relief to scratch the occasional itch, but when itch gets out of control, it can become a severe health problem. How does the body know when to stop? Scientists at UC San Francisco are getting close to an answer. In a breakthrough that could transform how doctors treat conditions from eczema to allergies, they have discovered a feedback loop centered on a single immune protein called IL-31 that causes the urge to itch and dials back nearby inflammation. The findings, published on October 13th in  Science Immunology , lay the groundwork for a new generation of drugs that interact more intelligently with the body's innate self-regulating ability. Previous approaches suggested that IL-31 signals itch and promotes skin inflammation. However, the UCSF team discovered that nerve cells, or neurons, that respond to IL-31, triggering a scratch, also prevent immune cells from overreacting and causing more ...
Read more

A VEGAN DIET IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH, ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY

-
Image
  A VEGAN DIET IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH, ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY         In a study with 22 pairs of identical twins, Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues have found that a vegan diet improves cardiovascular health in as little as eight weeks. Although it's well-known that eating less meat improves cardiovascular health, diet studies often need to be enhanced by genetic differences, upbringing, and lifestyle choices. By studying identical twins, however, the researchers were able to control for genetics and limit the other factors, as the twins grew up in the same households and reported similar lifestyles. "Not only did this study provide a groundbreaking way to assert that a vegan diet is healthier than the conventional omnivore diet, but the twins were also a riot to work with," said Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor and a professor of medicine. "They dressed the same, they talked the same, and they had a banter ...
Read more