Food nutrition
What is the concept of 0 sugar 0 card 0 addition?
The famous domestic brand Yuanqi Forest’s main milk tea has always claimed "0 sugar, 0 calorie, 0 fat", and is deeply loved by young people and weight-loss groups.
But just recently, things were going on at the Yuanqi Forest stall, and it became the number one hot search because of the controversy caused by the "0 sucrose" concept of its product Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea.
Subsequently, Yuanqi Forest also issued a public statement on its official Weibo on the promotion of "0 sucrose and low fat" beverages, apologizing for the misunderstanding of its milk tea product "0 sucrose, low fat" promotional words.
With the popularity of sugar-free sparkling water, "0 sugar 0 card" has become a hot slogan in the food industry.
I often meet some friends who are engaged in brand marketing, saying "make a ×× food with 0 sugar, 0 calories and 0 added, it will definitely be a hit."
I said: The food that can strictly achieve 0 sugar, 0 calorie and 0 addition is only water; even if the standard for "addition" is relaxed, it can only be "flavored water" such as tea, water, black coffee and so on.
In fact, 0 sugar, 0 calories, and 0 addition are independent concepts.
Are they healthy passwords or marketing gimmicks?
Let's talk about them separately.
"0 sugar" is not difficult to achieve, but you must pay attention to the business words
Claiming "no sucrose" may be the use of other sugars
As the name suggests, "0 sugar" means no sugar.
But in food nutrition, the concept of "sugar" may not be completely consistent with the public's understanding, which gives some businesses room to play tricks.
In daily life, many people understand "sugar" as sucrose (or white granulated sugar); in the field of food nutrition, "sugar" is a general term for various monosaccharides and disaccharides. In addition to sucrose, common ones include fructose, maltose, and lactose. , Glucose and so on.
Fructose syrup, high fructose syrup, rock sugar, brown sugar, honey, concentrated fruit juice, etc., are also "sugar" in substance.
According to national standards, the definition of "0 sugar" or "no sugar" means that the sugar content per 100g or 100ml of food does not exceed 0.5g-the sugar here refers to all kinds of monosaccharides and disaccharides, whether natural Existing or artificial additions are counted.
However, many businesses have secretly replaced the "sugar-free" concept with "no added sugar". For example, the test of "sugar-free milk tea" often finds that "sugar is contained", which is often the lactose from milk or the syrup in the creamer.
Others have secretly replaced the concept of "sugar" with "sucrose", such as using maltose, syrup, and concentrated fruit juice as the source of sugar, but they also claim to be "sugar-free."
Some businesses are more ethical, claiming "no sugar"-from a legal point of view, this is not inconsistent with using other sugars. Instead, it takes advantage of the perception that many consumers equate "sucrose" with "sugar". Consumers are misleading.
A simple and crude suggestion: If you see a food that claims to be "sucrose-free", take a look at the ingredient list. Most of them use other sugars.
"0 sugar" and "no sugar" can be divided into two categories:
One type is sugar-free and no sweetener, so there is no sweetness.
From a health point of view, such "0 sugar" and "no sugar" are the safest.
For infants and young children, "0 sugar" and "no sugar" should be in this category.
The other is sugar-free, but uses sweeteners to produce sweetness.
Generally speaking, the sweetness of sweeteners is somewhat different from sugar. There are some artificial sweeteners and some health concerns.
But this just means that sweeteners are not as "perfect" as previously thought. Based on current scientific evidence, sweeteners still have a much smaller health impact than sugar at the same sweetness.
In short, if sweetness is not needed, then "0 sugar" without sweetener is the best; if it is really difficult to give up sweetness, "0 sugar" and "no sugar" with sweetener are still the best Acceptable healthy choice.
"0 card" is not important
The key is what food ingredient the calories come from
Calorie is a unit of heat, usually marked with "kcal".
The "kJ" you see on food labels is also a unit of calories, and 1 kcal is approximately equal to 4.2 kJ.
Because calories are related to weight loss, "0 calories" is very attractive.
Among the macro-components of food, carbohydrates (including dietary fiber), protein, and fat all produce calories. Only water does not produce calories.
Among the sweeteners, the amount of high-power sweeteners is very small, so the calories can be ignored.
The sugar alcohol is low in sweetness, so the dosage is large, and the calories cannot be ignored.
Among the common sugar alcohols, erythritol is hardly absorbed and metabolized, so the national standard does not calculate calories. Other sugar alcohols, such as xylitol, maltitol, sorbitol, etc., are all required Calculate calories.
In other words, if you want to achieve "0 calorie", the main raw materials can only be water and erythritol, so the "0 calorie" food can only be sugar-free beverages.
As for the "0-calorie sugar" on the market, it is actually a mixture of erythritol and high-strength sweeteners. It can only be used as an additive in food and beverages, and should not be used as a food alone.
Because excessive intake of erythritol may cause diarrhea, it is necessary to control the intake-therefore, 0 calorie sugar is usually used in beverages, baked goods, etc., may bring diarrhea risk due to the large amount.
In fact, the choice of food does not need to be too entangled in the caloric value itself, but should pay attention to what food ingredients the calories come from.
For example, let’s take three examples: Food A is composed of protein, fat, and starch. The ratio is reasonable, and it is a fairly satisfactory food; Food B has the same calories as Food A, but contains less protein and a lot of sugar, which can be considered as such. Everyone usually refers to it as "junk food"; although food C is even higher in calories, it does not contain sugar, and is quite rich in protein and dietary fiber. It can be regarded as a "healthy food".
To sum up, the value itself is not so important for the calories of the food. The important thing is the nutritional composition-if the calorie comes from sugar and fat a lot, then it is "inferior calories"; and if it comes from protein and dietary fiber There are too many parts, then it doesn't matter.
"0 add" is just a marketing gimmick
From people's panic about food additives
"0 Addition" is very fashionable, and the root cause is people's panic about food additives.
There are more than 2,400 food additives approved for use in China, most of which are flavors and fragrances, and the other hundreds can be divided into preservatives, thickeners, emulsifiers, antioxidants, acidity regulators, colorants, and sweetness. Agent and so on.
All types have undergone in-depth and extensive safety assessments, and have been approved for use in many major countries in the world.
Most of them can be used legally and normatively to achieve the purpose of use, and there is even no need for "excessive" and "abuse".
More importantly, the rational use of food additives can improve the flavor, taste and safety of food.
If food additives are needed and "forcibly not used", it will either reduce the quality of the food or require other technological means.
For example, nitrite, the preservative that everyone pays most attention to, is used in accordance with the specifications in processed meat products. It cannot reach the amount that is harmful to health by itself, and at the same time, it can have sufficient antiseptic effect.
If you don't use it, there are only three options:
1. Bear the risk of botulinum toxin caused by botulinum contamination.
This is a very toxic toxin, and there have been many fatal reports;
2. After being sealed, it is heated thoroughly, that is, canned food or "soft canned food" packaging on the market.
No preservatives are needed, but deep heating has a great influence on the taste of meat;
3. Refrigerate or freeze storage.
These three situations exist in the market. If you want to pursue "preservative-free", which one would you choose (of course, "not eating" is also a choice)?
In fact, "0 add" is also a verbal technique.
For example, a well-known beverage advocates "no flavor", "no coloring", and "no preservative" because the product does not need to add these.
The food additive needed for its production is an emulsifier, and white sugar is added for flavor.
In short, there are thousands of food raw materials and food additives, and there are many categories according to their functions.
For any food, the raw materials and food additives that need to be added are limited, and the others can be changed to "no XX".
In most cases, "do not add XX" is just a game of words.
"No addition" and "0 addition" without specifying the specific content of "XX" means that the original state of the ingredients is basically pure water and various "primary agricultural products".
By Yun Wuxin (PhD in Food Engineering)