The Bulgarian Ministry of Health recently announced that it has ordered distributors to remove all batches of a certain brand of wafer cookies from the shelves, as they are suspected of containing melamine. Cookies are a beloved food for many, so how can you eat them in a way that is both nutritious and delicious? In this issue, our reporter has invited a nutrition expert to share some tips.
Paper towel trick to test for grease
Associate Professor Fan Zhihong from the College of Food Science at China Agricultural University stated that when choosing cookies, it is essential to carefully read the ingredient list and nutritional information on the packaging. The flour used to make cookies is generally refined white flour, which has lower nutritional value. However, if milk, nuts, whole grains, or legumes are added to the ingredients, the nutritional value of the cookies can be improved.
In addition to flour, it is also important to distinguish the type of fat used in the cookies. Regular vegetable oil is relatively better, while animal fats like tallow, lard, and butter have a higher content of saturated fatty acids and are slightly less nutritious. On the other hand, shortening, vegetable cream, and hydrogenated vegetable oil, which contain trans fatty acids, are the most detrimental to health.
It's not difficult to determine the fat content. Wrap a cookie in a paper towel, place a heavy object on top, and check how much grease is on the paper after 20 minutes. The more grease on the paper, the higher the fat content. If a cookie is crisp and not greasy to the touch, yet a lot of oil seeps into the paper towel, it indicates a high content of saturated fatty acids, which is unhealthy.
The ingredients of the cookies should also be examined carefully. The various flavors of cookies basically come from flavorings and colorings. A chocolate-flavored cookie is not necessarily made from real cocoa butter; it could be an imitation made from cocoa butter substitutes, which often contain trans fatty acids. Relatively speaking, cookies that contain vegetables, have a light salty and sweet taste, and are low in fat are healthier. For grain cookies, check the fiber content.
The idea that eating whole grains is beneficial to health has been widely accepted, and there are many "high-fiber" whole grain cookies on the market. However, if the so-called whole wheat, oat, rye, or five-grain ingredients listed on the packaging appear near the end of the ingredient list, they may not be genuine grain cookies.
Fan Zhihong analyzed a certain brand of cookie as an example. Its ingredient list is "wheat flour, white sugar, cream, vegetable shortening, peanuts, whey powder, salt, etc." From this list, it can be seen that the first ingredient is wheat flour, the second is white sugar, and the third is vegetable shortening. By extension, the less of an ingredient, the further back it appears in the list. Therefore, when buying high-fiber grain cookies, you should check the fiber content in the nutritional information table; if it is less than 5 grams, it is not a high-fiber cookie. Don't use cookies as a meal replacement.
Soda crackers are often considered the most nutritious type of cookie and are eaten by many for breakfast. However, Fan Zhihong points out that soda crackers are generally made from refined white flour and have a very low