Lately there is a true epide for the strawberry of love. Beautiful, vibrant and photogenic, the candy became fever on social networks and is a guaranteed presence in fairs, malls and events. But behind the sugary aesthetics and the illusion of being eating a fruit, this “sweet of the moment” hides nutritional traps.
If we look at its composition, it is sweet (there may be variations) consisting of an entire strawberry wrapped in white chocolate and a crispy sugar cover and dye.
Hidden calories and nutritional confusion
Each unit can provide 250 to 300 calories. In terms of calorie, if we eat two, we reach the caloric average of the hypercaloric sandwiches of fast foods. Just remembering that a strawberry unit has an average of 15 to 20 calories, that is, they managed to increase the calories of a fruit around 10 or more times.
People may find that, being a strawberry, candy offers the same benefits as the original fruit. But this is a dangerous illusion. The strawberry of love is, in practice, an ultra -processed food: contains saturated fat, refined sugar and additives as artificial dyes.
Health Impacts
In addition to caloric excess, frequent consumption of love strawberry can raise blood glucose-a serious problem for people with pre-diabetes or diabetes. It also favors inflammatory processes in the cardiovascular system, promotes weight gain and, most worrying, reinforces a distorted perception that a healthy choice is made by involving a fruit.
Recently, several warnings of the harm of love for teeth appeared in the networks – due to the crystallized sugar crust that adheres to the enamel and favors caries. But little attention has been paid to the metabolic impact of the explosive combination between white and caramel chocolate: both are concentrated sources of simple sugars and saturated fat, low satiety and high potential to cause insulin peaks.
Conscious consumption is the best way
I am not forbidding occasional consumption, but I think if consumed frequently, it can generate chronic health problems. Like everything in nutrition, balance is the most important. If you eat, eat with pleasure and conscience – but without mistaken thinking you are making a good food choice just because there is a fruit in the center.
Dr. Maurício Yagui Hirata – CRM-SP 59813 | RQE 088604
Endocrinology and Metabology. Member of the clinical staff of Albert Einstein and Syrian-Lebanese Hospital. Member of the Endocrine Society and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology.
