Diet beliefs

UPDATE ON SOME DIETARY BELIEFS

Food is the land of myths, in which there are different dietary beliefs that are emerging at one time or another. Sometimes, the least, for a new scientific discovery, other times, most, for commercial interests, and others because the game of the telephone that is established when the news begins to spread from word of mouth can transform a small snowflake into a blizzard storm, or even a tsunami. Some dietary beliefs circulate among the population for a long time and the scientific and health personnel try little by little to correct them and update them to new knowledge. Science advances, messages change, and often the task of banishing myths is hard work.

• Some dietary beliefs circulate among the population for a long time and the scientific and health personnel are trying little by little to correct and update them.
• Attention to soluble dextrined cereals for babies as they contain a significant amount of sugars.
• The dessert fruit neither ferments, nor makes it fatter, nor does it feel worse.

AT BREAKFAST… Cereals for the whole family?

For a few years, in many houses breakfast has not been conceived without cereals. Whether for adults or children, it is important to carefully review the list of ingredients and the nutritional content of them, as they are generally products very rich in sugars and sometimes also in undesirable fats. The products that stand out in this regard are simple flaked or puffed cereals since they are simply the cereal. With regard to babies, the use of cereal porridge is very widespread, whose presentation is very different, since they are dextrinated soluble cereals. The problem, however, is often the same: too much sugar. It is not common to read the word "sugar" in the list of baby cereal ingredients, but we can find it in the form of honey, grape juice, etc. In addition, on the other hand, the dextrination process to which this type of cereals is subjected involves the breaking of the long chains of carbohydrates (polysaccharides), to convert them into shorter chains, which are sometimes precisely sugars. Why are baby cereals dextrified then? In principle to facilitate the digestion process taking into account that the baby's digestive system is immature. Now, as it is advisable to start at six months, introducing small amounts of natural foods, and that at that age children can already digest small amounts of bread or boiled pasta, it is better to opt for these options.

IN THE FOOD… Can we finish with a fruit?

How many times have we heard that: "don't have fruit for dessert, it makes you fat." It may seem strange to some that these messages are still credited, but the truth is that it is a subject that still raises questions for some people. And not only because of the issue of not gaining weight, since avoiding fruit after eating has also been justified by stating that after a main meal it "ferments in the stomach". To get started, depending on the type of fruit we eat, the maturity and the quantity it will provide us with some calories or others. Thus, we will be consuming more calories if we eat a bunch of grapes than a bowl of strawberries, but we will not gain more weight by taking any of them for breakfast, for a snack or for dessert. And about the mysterious fermentation, if a person is not used to having fruit for dessert (but sweets or dairy products, for example) and one day he takes fruit, it is possible, only possible, that he will notice some difference at the digestive level, due to its acidity, for its amount of fiber (it can have gases ...). What is likely is that you will feel lighter than with a hearty dessert based on fats and sugars. In the Mediterranean many generations have eaten fruit for dessert or at any time and no adverse effect has been described, on the contrary, we better not forget good habits.

FOR SNACK ... Some rice cakes?

Rice cakes, possibly due to their appearance and lightness, are one of those foods that are associated with taking care of yourself. In the first place, we must look, as always, on the labels, because depending on the amount of salt they contain and the type of oil that has been used in their preparation, we may not consider them so healthy. If by reviewing these factors we give the go-ahead to the product, we must bear in mind that it is a food that we can consume as adults, but that it is advisable to limit in children. The reason is the presence of a contaminant, inorganic arsenic. The amounts concentrated in certain rice-based products are considered excessive for younger children. Since 2015, a European regulation establishes maximum limits for inorganic arsenic in rice and derived products after observing that the habitual consumption of these could lead to an excessive intake. In that same year, the Swedish National Food Agency, which at the moment is the country that has been the most severe in its advice, recommends that pancakes or rice drinks are not given to children under six years of age and that children do not consume more four times a week.

DINNER ... Shall we accompany it with a glass of wine?

In many cases, at dusk it is time to relax and some people enjoy a pleasant time having dinner, and accompanying their dinner with a glass of wine. Is that a good habit? The consumption of alcohol is socially very accepted and it is even believed that a moderate consumption of (one drink in women and two in men) provides benefits at the cardiovascular level. We cannot forget that wine is an alcoholic beverage and that, as such, contains alcohol, a toxic product for the body whose consumption is associated with multiple health problems. Certainly, there are studies that affirm that the incidence of cardiovascular problems is lower in people with moderate alcohol consumption than in abstainers. However, other publications question this statement since in the previous studies within the group of abstainers it includes people who previously had alcohol addiction problems, and people with health problems incompatible with alcohol intake and that, for therefore, they have a higher cardiovascular risk. However, if we only include people who have never drunk in the abstain group, the results change. On the other hand, not everything is measured through cardiovascular risk, because at the end of last year the World cancer Research Fund indicated that there is solid evidence to link alcohol consumption with different types of cancer (mouth, esophagus, stomach , liver, intestine and breast). Maybe then we prefer to relax with a glass of very cool water.