Herbs, spices are tasty and healthy alternatives to saturated fat, salt: Study

In response to the lowfat trend of the 1990s numerous food businesses removed saturated fats from their products only to replace them with sugars to retain palatability Unfortunately the new products were no healthier than the originals and the average individual now consumes far too much saturated fatA team of Penn State researchers has figured how to reduce some saturated fat sugar and salt from popular American dishes while keeping them tasty Whats the trick Replacing these overconsumed nutrients with a dosage of healthful herbs and spicesCardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally and limiting saturated fat and sodium intake are key recommendations for reducing the risk of developing this disease said Kristina Petersen associate professor of nutritional sciences Penn State Yet we know that one of the key barriers to reducing intake of these ingredients is the flavor of the food If you want people to eat healthy food it has to taste good Thats why our finding that participants actually preferred some of the recipes in which much of the saturated fat and salt was replaced with herbs and spices is so importantThe team used a nationally representative database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to identify 10 of the most popular foods that are typically high in sodium added sugars and saturated fat These included meatloaf chicken pot pie macaroni and cheese and browniesNext they worked with culinary experts to develop three versions of these recipes The first contained typical amounts of saturated fat sugar and salt used in these recipes The second version was nutritionally improved by removing the excess saturated fat sugar and salt The third version had the same nutrient profile as the second version but also contained added herbs and spices such as garlic powder ground mustard seed cayenne cumin rosemary thyme cinnamon and vanilla extractFor example the typical macaroni and cheese recipe included salted butter 237 milk American cheese and salt For the nutritionally improved version the researchers swapped the salted butter for unsalted butter and reduced the amount in the recipe by 7537 They swapped the 237 milk for skim milk replaced some of the American cheese with reducedfat cheese and eliminated the extra salt For the nutritionally improved plus herbs and spices version the researchers added onion powder garlic powder ground mustard seed paprika and cayenneOur goal was to see how much we could lower these overconsumed ingredients without affecting the overall properties of the food in terms of mouthfeel and structure and then add in herbs and spices to improve the flavour said PetersenNext the researchers conducted blind taste tests featuring each of the 10 recipes Participants evaluated all three versions of a dish one at a time in a single session Between 85 and 107 consumers completed each test Participants rated several aspects of acceptability for each recipe including overall liking and attribute liking such as the foods appearance flavour and texture Participants then ranked the dishes in order of preferenceWe found that adding herbs and spices restored the overall liking to the level of the original food in seven of the ten recipes said Petersen In fact participants actually liked some of the recipes better than the originalsSpecifically participants liked the healthier flavourenhanced versions of the brownies and chicken in cream sauce significantly more than the original recipes For five of the dishes meatloaf chilli apple pie pasta with meat sauce and taco meat participants liked the healthier flavorenhanced versions about the same as the original versions They liked the healthier flavourenhanced cheese pizza mac and cheese and chicken pot pie recipes less than the original versionsFinally the team modelled the potential impact of 25 to 10037 of US adult consumers eating these recipes instead of the original recipes Acirc For both saturated fat and salt they found that the estimated daily reduction would be about 337 if 2537 of consumers adopted the healthier recipes versus about 11537 if 10037 of consumers adopted the healthier recipes Smaller estimated reductions in added sugars were observed across the modelled range of consumer adoptionThe results appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and DieteticsWe demonstrated a meaningful reduction in overconsumed nutrients is possible with modification of these 10 recipes and these changes are acceptable to consumers said Petersen This suggests that more research should be done to look at how to implement this more broadly how to educate people to make these kinds of changes Importantly these findings could be applied to the food supply because most foods that people consume are purchased in a prepared form I think that would have a profound impact on peoples healthThis story has been sourced from a third 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