Analytical Report - Baked & fried snacks

Twenty one samples of baked and twenty one samples of fried snack foods, including crisps, biscuits and similar products, were submitted for analysis to compare their fat content and the type of fat they contain. There has been an increase in the number of baked snack products available on the market as they are sometimes seen as a lower fat option to similar fried products.

Fats are a mixture of different fatty acids, coupled together chemically with glycerol. These fatty acids may be “saturated” or “unsaturated”, with the saturated type generally having a higher melting point and being harder than the unsaturated type. This makes the saturated type especially suitable for fat spreads and foods that require a good texture (e.g. chocolate) whereas the unsaturated type are more often liquid oils. This is why hydrogenated oils are used in vegetable fat spreads. These are oils which are naturally unsaturated, but which have been changed chemically to saturated types. During this process of hydrogenation, some unsaturated fatty acids are changed to trans acids. These have similar properties to saturated fats.

Too much saturated fat can increase cholesterol in the blood which increases the chance of heart disease. Trans fats have a similar effect as saturated fats and some research suggests that the effects of trans fats may be worse.

Unsaturated fats don’t raise cholesterol as saturated fats do. It is recommended therefore to eat food with more unsaturated fat and less saturated fat.

Many processed foods are either baked or fried. These usually have a fairly high fat content, which will contribute significantly to the guideline daily amounts. It is important to have some fat in our diet as it contains vitamins, is a good source of energy and provides essential fatty acids. However, excess intake of fat leads to weight gain. Guidelines recommend that women eat no more than 70g of fat a day and for men the amount is 95g.

To check the amount of fat in a food, look at any nutrition information provided on the label.

A food containing 20g or more per 100g of fat contains a lot of fat, whereas a food with 3g or less per 100g is regarded as containing a little fat.

A food with 5g or more saturated fat is high and contains a lot of saturated fat, whereas a food with 1g or less per 100g is regarded as containing a little saturated fat.

Summary of Results

It was notable that baked products had a much higher saturated fat, and much lower poly-unsaturated fat, than those that were fried.

In general, the fried snacks had a much higher fat content than the baked snacks, averaging 27% against 18%. This is to be expected, since fried snacks will absorb much fat during frying. However, the types of fat found were quite different. 42% of the baked fat was saturated, but only 11% was poly-unsaturated. For fried snacks, only 27% was saturated, but 24% was poly-unsaturated. These differences are shown on the chart below.

No trans fats were found in any of the fried products.

It is also important to consider the size of the pack and the amount you eat as well as the amount of fat and saturated fat per 100g. A “typical” fried product of 35g would contain 9.5g of fat, of which 3.2g would be saturates. A “typical” baked snack with a serving of two biscuits (31g) would contain 6.2g of fat, of which 3.0g would be saturates. It can be seen that the fried snack contains much more fat per portion, but the two both contain about 3g of saturated fat. The real differences come in the actual weights of unsaturated (mono-unsaturated plus poly-unsaturated) fat. Here the fried snack portion contains 6.6g but the baked snack only 2.0g.

Report Date: December 2005