Who has never returned a product to the supermarket to look at the small table of nutritional values without knowing how to interpret it? We are all familiar with mentions like calories, sugar or fat but do you really know what they mean?
The nutritional tables of the foods are written on all the packaging of the products. They aim to help consumers understand the product: the benefits or, conversely, the adverse effects on our health. Unfortunately, very few people really know the useful information on these boards, others have trouble decrypting them, or do not read them. The Biscuiterie de Provence offers 3 tips to apply to decrypt these tables.
The nutritional declaration must appear on pre-packaged products since 2016, it corresponds to the nutritional values of products, usually presented in tabular form. It is important to understand these tables in order to analyze the commodities and whether or not they promote our good health.
Some informations must be mentioned. It relates to the amount of energy and nutrients of the product:
Other data are provided voluntarily by the manufacturer. Take the example of the soft organic cake Almonds & Oranges from our brand Biscuiterie de Provence.
It is a product rich in Magnesium, Vitamin E and dietary fiber, so this cake has health benefits! In addition, it contains a significant amount of minerals brought by the oranges contained in the cake. We therefore chose to indicate all these elements in the nutrition table.
This is the amount of energy that can be removed from the food through digestion. It can be indicated in kilocalories or kilojoules. The new unit of energy used by the body or contained in food is joule (kilojoules), but the kilocalorie is still widely used and widespread.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), a man should consume about 2500 kcal per day, compared to 2000 kcal for a woman. This recommended amount obviously varies according to the age and physical expenses of the person.
It contains saturated and unsaturated fats, which are the fats of everyday life. Regardless of the type of lipid, an adult with moderate activity should be limited to 70 grams daily. 7.0g of fat is contained in a 100 gram portion of our Almond and Orange Cake. It is about 26 grams for a serving of 100 grams for industrial cakes.
They provide energy to the body and are essential in our diet. It is recommended to consume 260 grams of carbohydrates daily. Even if they are good for your health, eating too many carbohydrates can lead to weight gain. Indeed, if they are consumed in excess, they are stored as fat in adipose tissue. To continue our comparison, our Almonds & Oranges cake contains 42 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, while industrial cakes contain about 72 grams.
Almond & Orange cake has 272 kcal per 100g. It is important to know that industrial cakes, which are often fond of the youngest of us, can contain more than 500 kcal per 100 grams.
In particular, they contribute to the renewal of our muscle tissues, skin, bone matrix… The needs of a person are about 0.8 grams per kilogram of weight per day.
Protein is mainly found in animal foods and legumes.
At Biscuiterie de Provence, we use good eggs outdoors in each of our recipes but the significant amount of protein we find in most of our products comes from the almond, queen in the Biscuiterie de Provence for 6 generations. The almond (internal link: page «dried fruits») is a nut with a much higher amount of protein than others, it is 22.60g per 100g. The egg, which is known for its high protein intake, contains only 13 grams of protein. For a second comparison, the nut contains 15 grams per 100 grams.
Less, there is salt, better!
It is recommended by the WHO (World Health Organization), not to consume more than 5g of salt per day. When the salt is indicated under the name «sodium», it must be limited to 2g.
Used as a flavor enhancer, salt is widely used in industrial cakes. The Almonds & Oranges cake contains only 0.13g of salt compared to nearly 0.60g for other similar cakes from competing brands.
When non-statutory elements are mentioned, it is because they often have benefits to bring us.
At the Biscuiterie de Provence, we mention the amount of dietary fiber. These substances of plant origin promote intestinal transit. The almond, a historical product of the Biscuiterie, has a high concentration of fiber. It is traditionally found in our recipes for Fluffy Cakes, Crunchy or Macaroons, where it represents one of the first ingredients of these tasty cookies.
We want to keep this proximity with the almond, which is why you can also find it in many of our recipes like Croquets and even our snack cookies like Cookies and Shortbread.
Finally, nutritional tables make it possible to decrypt a product. It is enough to respect the recommendations previously stated for each of the nutritional values. Highly industrialized products usually contain a large amount of salt and fat. When buying pre-packaged products, it is essential to pay attention to them.
At the Fabrique, we are committed to baking gourmet specialties with always short lists of ingredients for recipes as at home. No preservatives, artificial flavors, palm oil or other additives, you will find only products with good ingredients 100% from natural origins and as much as possible sourced locally (near our Factory). Because even if we offer rich products, their quality ingredients will bring you benefits for your health! Treat yourself, sparingly, for gourmet moments from aperitif to dessert we say a big YES!
