Over the years, we have heard so many things and read so many articles that have told us only thing or the other about the foods we consume and how we consume them. Truth is, at those times, they may have been true, but information is dynamic and subject to change, especially scientific information, because research is consistently being updated. As a result, some truths we believed earlier have been debunked, and new and improved information is now available to us.
Below are 10 nutritional myths we believed that have been debunked, so let’s get updated.
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is worse than table sugar
Sugar appears in many different forms; malto-dextrin, brown rice syrup, dextrose, sucrose, but it’s most well-known form is High Fructose Corn Syrup. In comparing the effects of sugar and HFCS, there was no difference found in changes in blood glucose levels, lipid levels, or appetite between table sugar consumption and HFCS consumption.
In other words, your body can’t tell one from the other; they’re both just sugar. The real problem with HFCS’s is that it’s super cheap, and as a result, it’s added to everything from cereal to ketchup to salad dressing. Is it a good idea to minimize the HFCS in your diet? Yes please! It’s best to cut out all unnecessary sugars.
Foods labeled “natural” are healthier
Very not true. An example is this: a certain soda company boasts that it’s soda is made with “100% Natural Flavors” however; the soda is sweetened with a decidedly unnatural dose of high fructose corn syrup.
“Corn” is natural, but “high fructose corn syrup” is produced using a centrifuge and a series of chemical reactions.
Sea salt is a healthier version of regular salt
Everyday table salt comes from a mine and contains roughly 2,300 milligrams of sodium per teaspoon. Sea salt comes from evaporated seawater, and it also contains roughly 2,300 milligrams of sodium. That makes them, well, roughly identical.
Advocates point to the fact that sea salt also contains other compounds like magnesium and iron, but in truth, these minerals exist in trace amounts. To obtain a meaningful dose, you’d have to take in extremely high and potentially dangerous levels of sodium. What’s more, traditional table salt is regularly fortified with iodine, which plays an important role in regulating the hormones in your body. Sea salt, on the other hand, gives you virtually zero iodine.
All calories are created equally
Eating 300 calories of chicken is not the same as eating 300 calories of cake. The body uses and stores calories differently depending on the nutrients each food is comprised of. Corn and beans, for example, contain something called resistant starch, a type of carb that is really hard to digest. In turn, the body isn’t able to absorb as many of the calories or as much of the glucose—a nutrient that’s stored as fat if it’s not burned off.
It’s a similar story with lean-protein sources like turkey, chicken and fish. In addition to boosting satiety, protein also has a high thermogenic effect compared to fats and carbs. In turn, your body burns off a fair percentage of the meat’s calories during the digesting process and post-meal calorie burn spikes by as much as 35 percent!
Eating egg yolks will raise your cholesterol
Egg yolks contain dietary cholesterol; this much is true. But research has proven that dietary cholesterol has almost nothing to do with serum cholesterol, the stuff in your blood.
Wake Forest University researchers reviewed more than 30 egg studies and found no link between egg consumption and heart disease, and a study in Saint Louis found that eating eggs for breakfast could decrease your calorie intake for the remainder of the day.
Energy drinks are less harmful than Soda
Energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster, and Full Throttle attempt to boost your energy with a cache of B vitamins, herbal extracts, and amino acids. But what your body’s going to remember most is the sugar in these concoctions; a 16-ounce can delivers as much as 280 calories of pure sugar, which is about 80 calories more than you’d find in a 16-ounce cup of Pepsi.
What’s more, a study found energy drinks to be 11 percent more corrosive to your teeth than regular soda. So here’s the secret that energy drink companies may not tell you: The only proven, significant energy boost comes from caffeine. If you want an energy boost, save yourself the sugar spike and drink a cup of coffee.
Diet sodas will help you stay slim
The obesity-research community is becoming increasingly aware that the artificial sweeteners used in diet soda—aspartame and sucralose, for instance—lead to hard-to-control food urges later in the day.
A University of Texas study found that people who consume just three diet sodas per week were more than 40 percent more likely to be obese. Try weaning yourself off by switching to carbonated water and flavoring with lemon, cucumber, and fresh herbs.
Kale is the healthiest green vegetable
Following a 2014 study, fruits and vegetables were ranked by their nutrient density, based on their levels of 17 different nutrients that have been linked to improved cardiovascular health.
The top 16 were all leafy greens, which pack the most nutrition per calorie, and number 17 was red bell peppers. However, kale didn’t make the top 10. In fact, simple spinach and even Romaine lettuce beat the alleged “super-green”, as did parsley and chives.
Paleo diet is better for You
Paleo diet is indeed too good to be true. Although protein-rich diets help pounds fly off initially, eating a low-carb, high-protein diet can actually cause weight gain in the long-term, say Spanish researchers.
In fact, their study findings revealed that those who follow high-protein diets have a 90 percent greater risk of gaining more than 10 percent of their body weight over time than those who don’t go heavy on the meat.
Yoghurt is good for the bacteria in your belly
Sure, some yoghurts contain beneficial bacteria that can send reinforcements to your gut when you need them. Lactobacillus acidophilus is the bacteria you want to look for, with yoghurts that say “live active cultures.”
But most yoghurts are so high in sugar that they do more to promote unhealthy gut bacteria than anything else. Unhealthy bacteria feed on sugar in your belly the same way they do around your teeth.