Surely more than one of our readers Have you ever tasted a rice cake? or another type of pancake and, probably, more than one not only did not like it, but also directly the package has not finished.
Let’s face it, pancakes, unless you top them with something else, are inedible; It is like eating dry oats. It has the same taste as cardboard.
There are many nutritionists, and now also the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU)who comment that puffed cereal pancakes they are not good for losing body fat or for health.
For many years, since the first puffed rice pancakes came out, they have been conceptualized as diet foods very useful for any type of diet; either to lose weight, gain muscle mass, as a snack, etc.
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What does the OCU say?
The OCU has warned that:
- “They are products inflated with air and therefore they are very bulky and weigh little, but its caloric intake is not low: 383 kcal/100g of simple pancakes, compared to 251 kcal/100g of wholemeal bread, for example.
- Pancakes with flavors or chocolate have an even higher caloric intake: 443 kcal and 471 kcal per 100 grams respectively. And they are not healthy: they are usually rich in fat and sugar, and include aromas and dyes.”
Several things must be taken into account. Although the pancakes are very bulky, at the moment you chew them and are going to swallow them, all the air that had been stored in the food disappears, so you only consume the raw material (which is the cereal) and it is what will satisfy you.
Many people have the bias that “healthy” equals “I can eat as much of this as I want and I won’t get fat”, And it is not like that. Although there are certain healthy foods that are very low in calories, such as vegetables and fruits, there are other foods that are not, such as nuts or olive oil.

Therefore, if we consume a food that is sold as healthy, we will think that we can eat everything we want when in reality it is not. Also, we will be displacing foods rich in minerals, vitamins, phytonutrientsas mentioned above.
Another factor to take into account is that lately many more pancakes are being sold with yogurt, white chocolate, chocolate, etc., also selling them as a health food. A food of this style, in addition to the cereal when it is inflated and treated, can generate toxic compounds such as acrylamidechocolate and other materials included in pancakes are also rich in harmful substances such as oxidized oils and sugar.
Finally, at a caloric level, it is much higher, as the OCU has commented, reaching almost 500 kcal per 100 grams, almost double that of bread.
The fewer ingredients, the better
A suggestion that we make to you from Vitónica is that, when a food is classified as “dietary”, “healthy”, etc., it is better to leave it on the shelf. Marketing is made for that; to sell despite all the cons that a food may have.
Foods that are really healthy for your health they do not need any marketing, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, etc. And if you look closely, they only have one ingredient, which is the raw material itself.
Finally, the vast majority of dietary products are full of unhealthy ingredients such as sugars, oils, dyes, etc., causing that, in addition to not consuming nutrients that are good for health, we consume substances that are harmful to us, increasing the chances of suffering from diseases.
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