Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 January 25

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January 25

Convenience food

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_diet#Harvard_School_of_Public_Health
Exactly why is convenience food bad for you? Just a question for health education purposes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:7427:6B00:E96B:2EBD:D7F0:150E (talk) 09:33, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

Better link locally: Healthy diet#Harvard School of Public Health. --CiaPan (talk) 12:28, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

You could look at our article on the topic, or (even better) check with the textbook for the health class you've clearly gotten homework for. Ian.thomson (talk) 09:48, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

Or Google "why is convenience food bad for you?". Alansplodge (talk) 10:14, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

Maybe this is a better question how is it possible to determine if certain foods are processed or not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:7427:6B00:7DB7:C0B2:35A8:58A6 (talk) 11:33, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

The list of ingredients usually gives this away. A sure sign is a long list of terms you do not recognize as standard ingredients for the kind of food, such as high-fructose corn syrup, xanthan gum, carrageenan, maltodextrin and soy lecithin. Not all ingredients that are allowed are generally recognized as safe, including trans fats (often presented as partially hydrogenated vegetable oils). And being "generally recognized" as safe is not the same as being actually safe. A problem with most highly processed foods and other convenience food is the low nutrient density, that is, the low ratio between on one hand soluble fiber and many of the micronutrients needed for remaining healthy, and on the other hand the caloric content (called, for that reason, empty calories). Eating primarily such foods leads to malnutrition because of vitamin or other nutrient deficiencies, or obesity, or both.  --Lambiam 15:27, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

Just have a question on article saturated fat that relates to this when they say this "Many prepared foods are high in saturated fat content, such as pizza, dairy desserts, and sausage." Do they mean convenience/processed food? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturated_fat.

Yes. In this context, "processed" and "prepared" generally mean the same thing, though there are a couple of edge cases, like subs, prepared salads, etc. where it's going to vary from case to case. Matt Deres (talk) 15:49, 26 January 2020 (UTC)

It's not a black and white issue. Food provides nutrition. Even if certain ingredients aren't implicated in harmful effects the question is their usefulness. Ingredients may be chosen for reasons unrelated to nutrition, such as shelf life. A long manufacturing, packaging, and distribution (shipping) process imposes constraints on food products that could result in foods that are less than ideally nutritious. Consistency of product could be prioritized in widely distributed food products. This could require the addition of stabilizing agents—which may not necessarily be of optimal nutritional benefit given the nominal food under consideration. Also see Gums and Stabilisers for the Food Industry. Bus stop (talk) 19:17, 26 January 2020 (UTC)