Many people snack between meals. A recent article in the European Journal of Nutrition looked at the health effects of snacking.

    In the group of participants studied, 95% were snackers. They averaged 2.28 snacks per day, accounting for anywhere from 8% to 40% of total calories. In many cases, participants ate fairly healthy meals, but the quality of the snacks was poor, featuring foods such as chips, desserts, and sugar-sweetened beverages.

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 By MALIZ ONG

    People who snacked on unprocessed foods such as fruits and nuts had better metabolic health than those who snacked on highly processed foods. Snacking after 9PM also had a bad effect on health. The net conclusion of the article was that snacking in and of itself is not bad, but that snacking on poor quality foods or snacking late at night is to be avoided.

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  By photka

    I found it striking that many people eat healthy meals but poor-quality snacks. This could make people unaware of the damage their snacking habits cause, especially if they do not realize how much of their food intake comes from snacking.