John Myers
Snack products made from legumes, vegetables and puffed grains such as corn flakes, lentil or chickpea chips: a sensible alternative to conventional potato chips and peanut flakes? The NRW consumer advice center compared the calorie, fat and salt content of 80 different products.
The essentials in brief:
- Few products offer real calorie savings. The often advertised lower fat content does not automatically imply an equally low calorie content.
- The chips made from legumes are particularly notable for their high salt content, while the vegetable variants contain a lot of fat – often even more than classic potato chips.
- Puffed snacks produce the best results, but again, it’s worth checking the nutritional information.
- Our conclusion: chips or snacks made from beetroot, parsnips, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, lentils or peas are no healthier than potato chips or peanut chips.
Potato chips and peanut flips are the classic salty snack items and are very popular. But the realization that more vegetables and legumes on the menu are beneficial for health and a slim line is becoming more and more popular. So it’s only natural that consumers are looking for healthier yet tasty alternatives to the coveted classics.
A growing number of alternative products, some with unusual and exotic ingredients, can now be found on the snack shelves in supermarkets. Many of them are advertised with a variety of health-related claims such as “less fat than…”, “high in fiber” or “high in protein”.
Such statements suggest enjoyment without regret. But what about the healthy image of the new snack items? In May 2020, the NRW consumer center looked at 80 fried, baked and puffed products made from legumes, vegetables and other unexpected ingredients and compared their calorie, fat and salt content with that of potato chips and peanut fritters.
Alternative snack products also high in calories
In a society in which overweight and obesity play an increasingly important role, the calorie content of food is an important purchasing criterion for many consumers. Do the alternative snack products offer an improvement here?
Legume chips
Chips made from legumes in particular are often advertised as having between 30 and 70 percent “less fat than conventional chips”. On closer inspection, however, it turns out that these statements are true, but that the lower fat content does not automatically mean a correspondingly lower number of calories.
For example, the statement “40 percent less fat than potato chips” for the products examined in our market check went hand in hand with calorie quantities that are only 9 to 18 percent below those of potato chips. For the effect on the scales, however, this is the decisive number.
On average, the 37 different legume chips we looked at bring about 439 kilocalories per 100 grams. Compared to potato chips, which average 536 kilocalories per 100 grams, this corresponds to a calorie saving of about 18 percent.
Vegetable chips
The 21 types of vegetable chips we examined have an average of 496 kilocalories per 100 grams, which is only seven percent less than the calorie content of potato chips. What is particularly striking in this product group is the sometimes very high fat content. Some of the products here even had a significantly higher fat content than potato chips.
Puffed Snacks
Among the 22 puffed snacks were some products that were noticeably lower in fat and calories than peanut fritters. These contain an average of 486 kilocalories per 100 grams and were used here as a comparison product due to their airy nature.
However, the product group of puffed snacks has a fairly wide range in terms of nutritional values. The calorie content of the products we looked at is between 377 and 481 kilocalories per 100 grams. The fat content also varies greatly with values between 1.8 and 23 grams of fat per 100 grams. So it’s worth taking a look at the nutritional information.
What’s in a serving?
Many manufacturers give nutritional values not only for 100 grams, but also for one serving. Since this voluntary information is usually assumed to be only 30 grams per portion, it quickly has a calming effect on the customer. Because calculated down to 30 grams, the calorie and fat content doesn’t sound so bad anymore.
But who doesn’t know it? Once the bag of chips is opened, it’s hard to put them down before you’ve eaten them all. In a nationwide representative survey of consumer advice centers in 2017, 1490 participants put a portion of chips in a bowl that corresponded to their usual eating habits. It turned out that the average quantity filled was 63 grams of chips, which is more than twice the portion stated on the packaging.
In our market check, we therefore assume realistic portion sizes of 60 grams.
How much salt
According to the German Society for Nutrition, you should not consume more than 6 grams of salt per day. That’s about a teaspoon. According to the “Study on Health in Germany”, the majority of Germans consume too much salt, which can increase the risk of developing high blood pressure. Most of the salt does not come from the salt shaker at home, but is found in processed foods. Eating out also accounts for a large proportion of salt intake.
A 60 gram portion of potato chips provides around one gram of salt, which is already a sixth of the maximum amount that can be taken in per day. In our market check, it became clear that legume-based products, in particular, attracted negative attention due to their very high salt content. Amounts of 1.5 grams and more per serving are not uncommon here. This even corresponds to a quarter of the maximum amount to be taken in per day. The vegetable chips fared slightly better here, averaging 0.7 grams of salt per 60-gram serving, and the puffed snacks performed best at 0.5 grams.
How much energy
A portion of potato chips of 60 grams contains on average about 320 kilocalories. This corresponds to around one sixth of the energy required on average per day. With an average of almost 300 kilocalories per 60 gram portion, vegetable chips are hardly less. A portion of chips made from legumes provides an average of around 265 kilocalories in the same portion size, which accounts for almost one eighth of the energy required daily.
In the puffed snack category, there are some products that are noticeably lower in calories than peanut fritters. Such heavily puffed-up products also benefit from their large volume. In these cases, a portion that is perceived as satisfactory should be lighter than is the case with less airy snacks.
Our conclusion
Chips or puffed snacks made from alternative ingredients such as legumes, vegetables or grains are not automatically healthier than potato chips and peanut flakes. Even if the presentation of the bags often suggests that they offer a health-promoting alternative to potato chips and peanut fritters, consumers should not be fooled. In most cases, the calorie content of the alternative snack products is hardly lower than that of classic chips and flips, and the salt content is also alarmingly high in some of the products considered.
Our recommendation
Whether made from potatoes, vegetables, corn or legumes – snacks should be eaten in moderation. They are at the top of the food pyramid , so they belong to the “extras” that should only be consumed occasionally and not in large quantities. The food pyramid supports a health-promoting combination of foods.
To resist the temptation to snack on too much at once, pour a portion into a small bowl and put the rest of the bag out of reach. Although the new products bring a change in taste to the snack shelf, they are not suitable for optimizing one’s own diet. If you want to add more vegetables or legumes to your diet, it is better to prepare fresh food yourself.
Make your own vegetable chips
Vegetables are always the best choice when nibbled raw or prepared with low-fat. Vegetable and potato chips are also easy to make yourself. It is up to you how much fat is in the chips. The spices can also be varied according to taste. Vegetable chips recipe:
- Sweet potatoes, beetroot, carrots, parsnips or zucchini are good for the vegetable chips.
- Wash and peel the vegetables. Cut into wafer-thin slices with a mandolin. Mix olive oil or rapeseed oil with spices, eg pepper and/or thyme. Add the vegetable chips and marinate with the seasoned oil. Spread the vegetable chips evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The vegetables should not lie too close together. Place the baking sheet in the oven at 150°C to 180°C and bake for approx. 20-30 minutes until crispy.
- Open the oven door every 5 minutes to allow the moisture to escape. Then let the finished chips cool down in the oven with the door open.
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