Are Vegetable Chips Healthier Than French Fries?

Snacking has always been the plague of any diet. But now, in these often boring times when we all think we deserve a reward, the pecking threatens to turn the bikini operation into extreme military training.

To take away our bad conscience, we think that if we sin with some vegetable chips, we will not end up in the hell of the michelin. But it is not healthy everything that the food industry has been trying to sell us as such for a long time.

And it is very reassuring to sink your teeth into a product that claims to contain broccoli or beets. But many of them fail the "cotton test." The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) analyzed the content of 17 bags of vegetable chips. The conclusion is that they contributed an average of 506 kcal, while the demonized chips of a lifetime had 522 kcal.

And one can guess: ok, they get fat the same, but they have to be healthier. Neither. In the aforementioned study it was shown that they have higher levels of free sugars. The most alarming case is that of beet chips, which account for up to 45% of these sugars. More or less as if you were having a can and a half of a soft drink.

To get an idea, from worst to best, in terms of free sugars, things would be like this. Beet chips are closely followed by carrot and squash chips, which tie with 44%. Although the pumpkin have in their favor that they have more fiber and less salt. The ones that seem –and pay attention, they only seem– the healthiest are those of broccoli, which provide only 6% of sugars. But they put on the boots with the fat: 47%.

So we have no excuse: vegetable chips are still the most chips. So if you are looking for a healthy snack, remember that some carrot and celery crudités with hummus will always be a better option than any other product that comes in a bag.