If you look online or at a biscuit shelf in a grocery store, you won’t miss the so-called “digestive” biscuit variety. Commercial biscuit makers advertise these as a healthier alternative to the regular biscuits. In this article, we will see whether that claim is true or not.
The main difference between a digestive biscuit and a regular biscuit is of the fiber content. A look at the list of ingredients in the two well-known brands of digestive biscuits in India – Britannia and Parle – revealed that digestive biscuits contained approximately 6 percent fiber.
Regular biscuits, on the other hand, hardly contain any. It is actually this fiber content that enables the brands to label the biscuits as digestive and market them as a healthier alternative. However, there is more to the story than just fiber. There are other ingredients in these biscuits that need to be looked at.
For example, in both Parle and Britannia brand digestive biscuits, the sugar content was 14% or more, and the fat content was 20% or more.
Now you see, to consume 6 grams of fiber via digestive biscuits, one also has to consume at least 14 grams of sugar, and at least 20 grams of fat. This is in addition to the preservatives and other chemicals which are used in the making of processed foods.
Does that sound healthy?
Perhaps, it will be better for us to consume biscuits, even the digestive ones, as a snack or only for the taste, and not for health. That way, there will be a lesser risk of eating excessive amounts of fat and sugar.
As far as the fiber requirement in our diet is concerned, there are much healthier alternatives available.
That being said, if you like digestive biscuits more than the other types, you may continue enjoying them. Just be mindful of how much sugar and fat comes along with that extra fiber.
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