Low (Dairy products)

Low (Dairy products) : adj. According to the regulations, a product is low fat if it contains at least 25% less of a given nutritional substance compared to the traditional product. The substance in question may be sugar, salt, or fat. Many foods can be reduced. Concerning cheeses and dairy products, margarine, butter. The latter contains up to 82% fat, those called low fat between 41 and 65%, and dairy spread specialties from 20 to 41%.
The taste of these different foods differs as little as possible from the normal product. Manufacturers work a lot on the aromas to preserve. They are trying to identify new sweeteners, with very variable sensory effects. The price of these foods is more expensive. This increase is justified not by the cost of raw materials but because these products are the result of large investments in research and development.
However, fat contributes to the affirmation of flavors as a sapid support. So-called low-fat cheeses are therefore much blander in taste.
To reduce fat, you can select less fatty raw materials such as using skimmed milk for yogurts.
Another technique is to replace fats with modified fatty acids which are not digested and therefore provide no calories. For butter or low-fat margarine, simply add water.
Foods enriched with omega 3 (polyunsaturated fatty acids) are foods that allow us to put our health on the menu, and they do not meet the definition of light but that of nutraceuticals.
Light products are a good complement to a slimming diet, because they allow you not to deprive yourself of certain foods.
According to nutritionists, low-fat foods can help you lose weight if a controlled diet is implemented. However, very often, the consumer being convinced of the low caloric value of the food, he allows himself to eat more of it, but, as they are not completely free of sugar and/or fat, he ingests the same number calories than with classic products…
Furthermore, “low sugar” does not mean “low fat” and vice versa.
If, from a marketing point of view, low fat products are designated as “light”, “line”, “slimming”, “fitness”, “0% calories”, it is essential, to correctly identify their caloric value, to clearly decipher labels, and take into account fat and sugar intake.