Some ‘healthy foods’ might not be as healthy as you think -survey
The New York Times collaborated with the polling firm Morning Consult to survey 2,000 Americans and nearly 700 nutritionists from the American Society for Nutrition to find out what each group considered healthy versus unhealthy food. The results showed that most of the time, the average American knows the difference between healthy and junk food. But the public and the experts disagree on some foods in between.
Each survey respondent was asked to rate 52 common foods as good or bad for their health.The majority of respondents correctly placed soda, white bread, and cookies into the unhealthy group, but the two groups didn’t agree on everything. One example is granola bars. More than 70% of the public marked granola bars as healthy, while only 28% of the nutritionists did, which gives the widest gap between the two groups.
Granola bars sound nutritious with its combination of oats, nuts, and dried fruits but when pieces of chocolate and other types of sugars are added to the mix, the sugar count skyrockets. One type of granola bar may even have more sugar content than your average sugary snack.
Other foods that had a significant gap between what Americans deemed healthy and what met nutritionists’ standards—like frozen yogurt and SlimFast shakes—also have loads of added sugar that the average consumer likely isn’t aware of. The same goes for orange juice and coconut oil.
But the good news is added sugars will soon be hard to miss or ignore. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new food label in May that will feature calories in large, bold type and serving sizes that actually reflect the way Americans eat. These new labels will also clearly mark which sugars were added to boost the food’s flavor versus those that occur naturally.
On the other hand, these changes aren’t required to be on all packaged foods until July 2018. At the moment, the public is advised to stick to the American Heart Association’s recommendation of consuming no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugars a day and take note of or control the sugar content in their food.
There are also a few gray areas in between the healthy and unhealthy sides. Both groups were on the fence about pork chops, cheddar cheese, and whole milk. Experts generally disagree with each other on certain types of fats, and how findings on the perfect fat-to-protein ratios have given mixed answers.
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