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During the pandemic, convenient meal kit delivery services help develop home cooking habits that incorporate healthy ingredients like vegetables and a less harmful fat and salt balance.
Meal kit services appear to be growing in popularity, but there is very little research on those who use meal kits and what the potential nutritional benefits and risks may be, “Australian nutrition and dietetics researchers say in a new paper. on Health Promotion International.
“For example, we don’t really know if they’re better or worse than home cooking or takeout,” says lead author Dr Carly Moores, a registered nutritionist, Flinders University graduate and now postdoctoral researcher at the ‘University of Adelaide.
Researchers looked at one-year-old recipes from a popular meal kit service, focusing on the qualities of the recipes, including ingredients and time to prepare meals.
Dr. Kacie Dickinson, an academic and accredited dietitian at Flinders University, says a typical recipe contained about nine different ingredients, an average of three vegetables and three ingredients from the home pantry.
The meals took about 35 minutes to prepare and were relatively high in energy from fat and protein. The meals were also relatively high in sodium with some exceeding the Australian suggested dietary target for sodium (<2000 mg).
“This could be improved by increasing vegetables and whole-grain ingredients in meals, or by reducing portion sizes,” says Dr. Dickinson.
Meal kits are widely advertised, even to families, so it was important to find that the meals also had positive qualities – for example, they included a range of different vegetables. This is important because you know that vegetable intake is important for health, but the intake is too low in most Australian adults and children.
“It is very important to understand the qualities of these recipes, which vary from week to week, before deciding if the meal kit is a service that suits you and your family’s nutritional needs and preferences,” adds Dr. Moores.
Reference
Moores CJ, Bell LK, Buckingham MJ, Dickinson KM. Do meal kits promote health? Nutritional analysis of meals from an Australian meal kit service. Health Promot Int. doi: 10.1093 / heapro / daaa095
This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: the material may have changed in length and content. For more information, contact the source cited.
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