5 Foods we were once told was bad……… but are now good

An article on foods once said to be unhealthy but now certified healthy or foods once said to bad for you. …………but are now good.

1. EGGS

EGGS are incredible! Consuming an egg a day by healthy individuals does not increase any risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, studies have shown that people with diabetes as well as patients with existing hypercholesterolemia should limit their intake of whole eggs to just 2 per week. Whole eggs are very rich in nutrients, including choline, which decreases the risk for the development of cardiovascular disease. Adequate intake of choline can help in decreasing the level of blood homocysteine. It is worth mentioning that hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for the development of CVD. Furthermore, high level of homocysteine has been linked to the increased risk of depression, dementia and other neurological disorders. Do you know that starting your day with an egg-containing breakfast can help in the prevention and management of obesity? This is because eggs have a high satiety index, which causes a delay in the consumption of the subsequent meal.

2. BUTTER

BUTTER is natural! There is no doubt that butter is healthier than margarines that contain high levels of trans fatty acids. Do you know that trans fatty acids are worse than saturated fatty acids in terms of increasing the risk of chronic diseases? Trans fatty acids increase the level of all bad lipid in our body, including bad cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol), lipoprotein A (Lpa), which behaves just like LDL-cholesterol as well as triglycerides. Unfortunately, trans fatty acids decrease the concentration of the good cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol in our body). Trans fatty acids can even worsen the signs and symptoms of autism and ADHD, because they interfere with the production of EPA and DHA, which are needed for normal brain functioning.

3. POTATOES

POOR potatoes! People think that eating potatoes can make you obese. That’s not true. Potatoes (NOT chips or French fries) have a very high satiety index. Do you know that potato salad has twice less calories than the consumption of only potatoes? Well, usually we consume our potatoes when they are hot. In that state, the whole energy from the potato salad is available for use. However, when you cook and cool your potatoes and later make salad out of them, the energy availability becomes less. This is because cooling the potatoes makes the starch difficult for enzymes to digest. 1 g of hot potatoes will give 4 kcal, but 1 g of cooled potatoes will provide you with only 1.5 kcal. Isn’t that amazing?

4. DAIRY PRODUCTS

DAIRY products! The incorporation of low-fat dairy products into our diet will help in the prevention chronic diseases, including obesity, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cancer. This is because dairy products are very rich in animal bioactive substances that prevent chronic diseases.

5. NUTS

Daily consumption of NUTS is important in decreasing the risk of chronic diseases, because they are high in dietary fibre, saturated fatty acids and have a high satiety index.

Palm oil was once tagged as bad food, but now found to be good, nutritious and healthier than other oils.

These are the thoughts of:

Sa’eed Halilu Bawa
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad.
Studied Food and Nutrition Sciences, Dietetics at Kaduna Polytechnic, Nigeria; Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland.