Cornitos Nacho Crisps Cheese And Herbs

The micronutrients (Vitamins/Minerals) play an important role by ensuring proper functioning of cells and tissues. 

 

Each vitamin and trace mineral play a specific role in the body. For example,  Vitamin C acts as antioxidant protecting cells from environmental damage, healing wounds and maintaining connective tissue whereas minerals like sodium, potassium and chloride function as electrolytes that assist in communication between cells necessary for nerve impulses and muscle contraction. 

 

Some products mimic the nature by adding artificial vitamins or minerals  which have an identical form and function to those found in nature, but they are manufactured synthetically to meet extremely high standards of processed products.

Product with decent amount of Dietary Fibre (5%-10% of day's recommended intake) is better than a similar one with zero or negligible amount of fibre) - at least it's a start! 

Packaged foods generally do not have Dietary fibre so a product with some amount of dietary fibre is always welcome. 

Fibre is not a nutrient but plays a key role in managing your body regularities - Bowel movement - Keeping constipation at bay, a control on Blood Sugar spike and check on blood cholesterol. 

However, follow the principle of balance and don't go overboard by eating only fibre rich food.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of the common amino acid i.e. Glutamic acid, popular for its usage as flavouring agent in Asian Cooking. 

This glutamate salt is also found naturally in various foods such as tomatoes and cheese as well as ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolysed groundnut protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate. 

Some people are sensitive to MSG having adverse effects such as headache, depression, etc. on regular consumption of this salt. Indian law requires that foods containing Added MSG list it in the ingredient panel on the packaging with the warning that it should not be consumed by infants below 12 months. However, if ingredients that have naturally occurring MSG, are added to the product then the product may not specify in regards to its presence. 

Pregnant & Lactating women & Infants should avoid Products containing MSG .

HVP is created from cereals and legumes such as groundnut, corn, soy and wheat by processing that results in proteins being broken down into amino acids. One of those amino acids is glutamic acid which is a form of monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Though HVP is not same as MSG it does contain the compound. So, if you are sensitive to MSG you should avoid consuming foods that contain HVP. Also, take care the food ingredient label may use differen terms to indicate the source of HVP such as Hydrolyzed Groundnut Protein. 

Maltodextrin is mostly used as sugar substitute, thickener which gives fat-like body to food products and increases their shelf life. It is produced from starch by a process called partial hydrolysis of grain starch primarily corn or rice starch.

Due to its slow metabolism, many sports drinks use maltodextrin to ensure sustained energy during endurance training.

Additives are added to the packaged foods for different reasons varying from increasing shelf life, to provide flavour and texture, increasing nutrition quality or required to manufacture some types of food. 

One of the ways to determine the degree of Processing is the number of additives you find in the ingredient list. The higher the number of additives greater is the degree of processing. Additives can be identified by looking for ingredients that begin with 'E' and have a number in them. 

It is generally recommended that food that is closer to nature is better hence it is better to choose food products with lesser number of additives.