Add rainbow to your meals! Switch to smart add-ons that up your foods' nutritional value

By Saliha Nasline

Most restaurants today consider food styling, or decorating food to make it more appetising, to be as equally important as cooking the food. However, to make dishes visually attractive a lot of artificial colours and flavourings are getting into them. In many cases, unhealthy food products, which can be detrimental in the long run, are being used as toppings.

"Food styling is a common practice in many restaurants nowadays," said Lalitha Subramanyam, chief nutritionist at Grow Fit. "From revamping their menu to improving their social media presence and having their guests fall in love with their food at first sight, food styling has benefits for restaurants."

According to her, styling is done while plating, by adding things like sauces, salad dressings, syrups and glazes. "Commercial food styling also involves inclusion of additives to improve appearance, shelf life, etc."

However, experts also say food styling can be done intelligently enough to not adversely affect the nutritional value of the food.

CHEMICAL SPREAD

You may think that a bowl of salad is one of the healthiest meals. However, when eaten with processed salad dressings, the same can turn unhealthy.

Salads are normally a healthy choice, but to make it look more attractive, often too much of extra dressings such as mayonnaise and vinaigrette are added. These in turn end up making the healthy platter unhealthy.

Processed oils used in making many commercial salad dressings can impede healthy eating in many ways.

"Many of these oils are actually rancid fats as high heat and pressure are used by manufacturers to create processed and refined oils," said Subramanyam. "This results in the fat molecules getting denatured in ways that can destroy their nutrient value and lead to chronic inflammation in the body. Many chemicals and preservatives are used in bottled dressings to camouflage the flavour and smell of these hydrogenated fats and trans fats, which have been linked to countless health conditions."

According to Pavithra N Raj, dietician executive at Columbia Asia Referral Hospital in Bengaluru, adding excess cheese in pizzas to make them visually attractive is unnecessary and affects the health badly. Similarly, foam is often put over a coffee in coffee shops to make it look interesting. However, there are no benefits of this added foam for the person, she said.

Subramanyam said more monosodium glutamate (MSG) is added to recipes to give a savoury or meaty flavour. Extensively used in Chinese cuisines, it is now used in all recipes to improve flavour and taste. MSG can cause headache, chest pain, palpitation and mild mood changes or worsen asthma, all of which are collectively referred to as the 'Chinese restaurant syndrome'.

Even 'frappuccinos' contain unhealthy products like carrageenan, commercial citric acid, and artificial flavours and sugars, all of which pose health hazards. Bread varieties are full of dough conditioners such as azodicarbonamide, DATEM, monoglycerides, diglycerides, and sodium stearoyl lactylate, all of which are linked to health issues. Preservatives such as calcium propionate are linked to ADHD, she said.

Raj said that many a time, in an attempt to make the food look attractive, restaurants end up decreasing the nutritional value of the food.

FAT LOAD

In Indian dishes such as dal makhani and palak paneer, often additional cream is being added on the top, which serves no other purpose than making the dish appear rich and attractive. Excluding such styling can make the food healthier, said Raj.

Tacos and kathi rolls are semi-cooked in most cases so that the colour does not get too brown and looks appealing. But this may be unhealthy. Often extra cheese is sprinkled over this, further decreasing the nutritive value.

Sandwiches and burgers are prepared with too much of mayonnaise and cheese slices that pop out from the bread, which improves the beauty but affects the nutritional value. Even biryanis are served with deep brown onion fries that are used for garnishing but are unhealthy.

HOW IT AFFECTS HEALTH


(Image: ThinkStock)

Generally, food styling negatively impacts health as food often becomes calorie dense, which increases the obesity risk. Artificial flavours, colours and preservatives can lead to multiple health problems including cancer.

"Safety issues regarding food styling depend on the training and knowledge one has," said Dr Saurabh Arora, founder of Foodsafetyhelpline.com, a platform that helps implement food safety practices by testing products, ingredients and facilities. "Ingredients used in the process play a major role. If safe ingredients are used then it is not a threat, but on the other hand when too many synthetic colours and agents are used to make the food visually appealing and the chef does not have knowledge of the same, this could affect health," he said.

"These days we see many people following various cooking channels on social media and replicate the recipes. Many times they are not even aware of the ingredients they use. They are not trained and above that there are certain guidelines for these ingredients to be followed which is mostly not abided by and thus makes the food unhealthy," Arora said.

FOOD COLOURING

Artificial food colouring makes your food more appealing and desirable. Candies, cocktails, soft drinks, yogurts, biscuits, pickles, sauces and even cough syrups have artificial food colours. Though its safety is still in question, a moderate use of it is allowed, according to industry standards.

Dr Varsha Gorey, senior clinical dietitian at Apollo Hospitals, Mumbai, said: "Synthetic colouring agents and dyes can have serious implications on health. As per studies, the brilliant blue colour found in ice creams, cocktail syrups, candies and cold drinks can cause brain tumours, citrus red or orange colour can cause bladder tumours, allura red dyes found in beverages, candies and cereals can cause chromosomal damage, hyperactivity, lymphomas and tartrazine yellow in food items can cause asthma, allergies, insomnia, neurochemical and behavioural effects."

If used beyond recommended levels, these additives can have serious lifethreatening effects, Gorey said. Effects of food colouring can be immediate, acute or long term. Allergies, rashes, hives, sneezing, headaches, puffiness on face and extremities, and vomiting are some of the common immediate effects. Throat infection, cough and eczema leading to other infections are acute effects. The chemicals in colours might also lead to behavioural changes, hyperactivity and ADHD, she said.

AWARENESS IS KEY

While several western countries have banned the use of certain artificial colouring mediums, there is an increased usage of such things in most of the restaurants in India. So, the general public should be aware of what they consume, Gorey said.

HEALTHY CHOICES

Simple looking food can be prepared in a way to contribute to good health, experts say. "For example, cakes are decorated with loads of cream to make them look delectable," said Raj of Columbia Asia Referral Hospital. "However, this is not a healthy choice. Instead one can opt for plain cakes which are devoid of cream."

Similarly, salads can be made completely without fattening dressings and can be simply seasoned with salt, pepper, lime and a drizzle of oil, she said. Pizzas can be made at home with a limitation on the cheese, by adding more vegetables. Burgers and sandwiches can be made without the addition of any sort of mayonnaise. One should remember that simple looking food, although not extremely visually attractive, is always a better choice, Raj said.

Subramanyam of Grow Fit said, "It is better to read the labels before buying bread and opt for ancient grains or sprouted breads, which do not have additives and need to be consumed instantly. There are many ways to make bland vegetables or salads tasty without using commercial substances. Vegetables not only add colour to a meal but also provide high concentration of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants."

In fact, vegetables such as carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions and bell peppers are all naturally sweet and can reduce your cravings for added sugar. Add them to soups, stews or pasta sauces for a satisfying sweet kick, she said.

ADD COLOUR WITH THESE

RED: Tomatoes, beets, radishes, cherries, grapefruit, red peppers, pomegranates, strawberries

YELLOW: Sweet potatoes, carrots, lemons, mangoes, oranges, yellow peppers, pineapple, pumpkin

GREEN: Spinach, green apples, avocados, green beans, broccoli, green cabbage, lettuce, peas

OPT FOR HEALTHY SUBSTITUTES

1. Instead of mayonnaise and sauces for salads or sandwiches, use curdbased dressing

2. Use green chutneys of coriander and mint leaves instead of sauces

3. Cream can be replaced with curd to garnish

4. Instead of boiling veggies, try grilling or roasting, but do not blacken them

5. Include carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions & bell peppers which limit sugar cravings

6. Add flavour to your salad by drizzling olive oil, sprinkling almond pieces, chickpeas or a little bacon