Archive | 2019
Are You What You Eat
Abstract
Many of us are extremely confused about what constitutes a good diet. The aim of this chapter is to untangle the complex science behind our understanding of the relationship between diet and health. It discusses the impact of calorie reduction, food composition (fat, protein, and carbohydrate), and food digestibility on our health and wellbeing. It considers recent debates about the relative merits of different kinds of fats (saturated versus unsaturated), sugars (fructose versus glucose), and polysaccharides (starch versus dietary fiber) on our health. It highlights some of the problems that have arisen from using new innovations in food science to change our diets, such as the trans-fat debacle, where replacing saturated fats with partially hydrogenated fats may have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. Some of the innovative strategies that food scientists have developed to create reduced calorie foods that look, feel, and taste good are highlighted, such as fat and starch mimetics based on tiny milk balls and gummy hairs. The science behind the design of foods that make us feel fuller is described, as more satiating foods would help to stop us overeating. Finally, this chapter makes the argument that we need better quality processed foods, rather than avoiding processed foods altogether, to address obesity and other chronic diseases, because most of us still want affordable and convenient foods.