Nutritional Quality of Wholegrain Cereal-Based Products Sold on the Italian Market: Data from the FLIP Study

Nutrients

Nicoletta Pellegrini¹  Margherita Dall’Asta²  Rossella Dodi²  Gaetana Paolella³  Daniela Martini⁴  Donato Angelino⁵ 

[1] Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy;Department of Animal Science, Food and Nutrition, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29100 Piacenza, Italy;Department of Chemistry and Biology “A. Zambelli”, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy;Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy;Faculty of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo, 64100 Teramo, Italy;

关键词: cereals;    fibre;    nutrition claim;    health claim;    nutrition declaration;    food labelling;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nu14040798

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The consumption of wholegrains (WG) is encouraged worldwide, but the lack of a common legal definition of such products leads to an unclear classification and identification on the grocery store shelf. In Italy, several products are generally sold as WG, but it cannot be determined if they are made entirely with all WG cereal(s) or if they are partially produced with WG ingredients (PWG). The aims of this study were to (a) survey the number of cereal-based food items formulated with WG, PWG, or refined (RG) present on the Italian market; and (b) analyse the nutritional quality, intended as nutrition facts, of WG products in comparison to PWG and RG. Nutritional information and declarations were retrieved from packs of 3040 products belonging to five different categories: breakfast cereals, biscuits, sweet snacks, bread, and bread substitutes. A descriptive analysis of the products and comparison of energy, macronutrients, fibre and salt among RG, PWG and WG products within each category was performed. In all categories, a major portion of the products did not contain WG ingredients. Results showed that the nutritional quality of RG, PWG, and WG products varied in relation to the product category and that WG inclusion cannot be always considered a marker of the overall nutritional quality of foods. Instead, it is necessary to evaluate the global product characteristics, and it is important to pay attention to differences between WG and PWG products that can be perceived by consumers as equivalent.

【 授权许可】

Unknown