United Kingdom: A new study has found that 1 in 4 of us may be undoing all the benefits of healthy eating by choosing ultraprocessed and sugary snacks.
“Considering 95 percent of us snack and that nearly a quarter of our calories come from snacks, swapping unhealthy snacks such as cookies, crisps, and cakes for healthy snacks like fruit and nuts is a really simple way to improve your health,” senior author Ms. Sarah Berry, a researcher at King’s College London, said in a statement.
According to reports, more than 90 percent of adults in the United States report eating one or more snacks on any given day. In the United Kingdom, where the study was done, some 47 percent of participants ate two snacks a day, and 29 percent of people snacked even more often.
“Over 25 percent of the study participants reported eating healthy main meals and snacking on highly processed food and sugary treats that can increase hunger,” the study noted.
The study, published n the European Journal of Nutrition, analysed the snacking habits of 854 people participating in the Zoe Predict study, a collaboration between Tufts University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and nutrition researchers in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Sweden.
According to the analysis, eating poor choices for snacks was “linked with higher BMI (body mass index), higher visceral fat mass, and higher postprandial—the period after eating a meal—triglyceride concentrations, all of which are associated with metabolic diseases such as stroke, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.”
“When the snacks were eaten, it was also important. Snacking after 9 PM was associated with eating calorie-dense foods high in fat and sugar,” the study added. Also, people who snacked late had worse blood markers that might lead to chronic disease than those who snacked earlier in the day.
According to the authors, not all snacking is unhealthy. Participants who frequently ate nuts, fresh fruit, and other high-quality snacks were more likely to have a healthy weight compared with non-snackers or those who chose unhealthy foods.
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