Vegetable crisps, a healthy alternative?

Beets, carrots, sweet potatoes… The vegetable crisps look pretty good. But beyond appearances, what is it really? Are they really healthier than their potato counterparts? Response elements…

Classic chips are an industrial food often associated with junk food. Oily, they are also particularly salty. However, excess salt seriously harms our arteries: it stiffens them and promotes high blood pressure, one of the main risk factors for myocardial infarction and stroke.

Beyond that, these crisps are also rich in… acrylamide! It is a potentially carcinogenic chemical in humans. It forms naturally in starchy foods during high temperature cooking.

The Nutri-Score indication

Salt, acrylamide… these two substances are also used in the composition of vegetable crisps. In 2019, the European Bureau of Consumers’ Unions (Beuc) also warned of the presence, it seems, of acrylamide twice as high in vegetable crisps as in the others! In their report, the Beuc scientists specified that “vegetable crisps were often marketed as a healthy alternative to their potato-based counterparts”. However, they called to “the establishment of a reference value to oblige food manufacturers to apply measures to reduce the acrylamide content”.

In the meantime, you can always rely on the Nutri-Score of the product in question… Even cook them yourself from fresh products.