Health Guide list

CEBU, Philippines - As lists touching up on what food to avoid or what food one should eat more of are increasingly getting popular, arguments and debates questioning the authenticity and reliability of such lists have congruently become common.

From online debates to family dinner discussions, points and counter-points delving into how healthy or how unhealthy a particular consumption item is has been raised and talked about, with a number of those discussions generally left unresolved.

Below is a quick take on three of those unresolved-if-healthy-or-not consumption items, products whose overall healthy factors continue to be questioned by a world that takes the eat the right foods at the right amounts modicum seriously.

Diet Soft drinks/Soda

The sweeteners used in “diet” or “light” variants of popular soft drinks have sparked a number of heated arguments over just how healthy they are advertised to be.

Those opposed to the idea that diet soft drinks are healthy often talk about Aspartame (an artificial sweetener typically used in diet sodas) and its associated link in increasing the risks of developing certain types of cancer, making it a highly argued about healthy-or-not consumption item.

Still, regardless if “regular” or “diet” soft drinks are being talked about, the high sugar content of soft drinks has long pegged them as unhealthy, with their regular consumption linked with the onset of a pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes condition.

Soy Sauce

As a condiment, soy sauce is argued to be unhealthy due to its high salt content.

The use of certain chemicals in making soy sauce has also contributed to its “unhealthy status”, but those opposed to the idea that it is unhealthy generally argue that the level of antioxidants in soy sauce (though revealed to be not all that great) balances out its high salt content factor.

Arguments about soy sauce’s “healthy status” typically end with low-sodium soy sauce options being raised, soy sauce variants which are revealed to be made under stricter and healthier regulations.

Fruit Juice

While fruits and fruit juices are generally viewed as healthy, commercially made juices are often argued to be not.

In most debates and discussions, the extra sugar and the absence of fruit pulp in commercially made juices are typically pointed out, defining them as sugar-riddled drinks that are without essential fruit pulp fibers.

Most arguments delving into the healthy status of commercially made juices generally end with two “resolutions” – the healthier option in eating whole raw fruits, or the option of making juices using whole raw fruits instead.   (FREEMAN)