The big difference between Diet and Light is the amount of ingredient that has been reduced in the preparation of the product:
- Diet : Have zero of some ingredient such as zero fat, zero sugar or zero salt. Thus, they can be used by people with chronic problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, for example;
- Light : they show a reduction of at least 25% in the amount of some ingredient or in the calories in general, when compared to the normal version of the product.
Thus, neither version guarantees that the product to be purchased is healthy or low in calories, as this will depend on the ingredient that has been reduced in the recipe. So it is very important to always read the label before buying the product.
For example, it is no use dieting and buying a light food that only reduced the amount of sodium in the product because your calories will remain the same.
What Diet Products Are For
Diet products should only be purchased in specific cases of any illness or alteration in the blood test. Therefore, depending on the type of ingredient that has been withdrawn from the recipe the products are best suited for:
- Zero addition of sugar : for diabetics;
- Zero fat addition : for those who have high cholesterol or high triglycerides;
- Zero addition of sodium / salt : for those who have high blood pressure.
Thus, it is important to know the health problem that must be treated to be able to buy specific foods, it is necessary to always look at the product label to identify which of the ingredients has changed and if it really fits into the diet.
Diet have fewer calories?
Although some Diet products do not have sugar, it does not mean they have fewer calories, and some may even contain more calories than a non-diet product. This is because to maintain the taste and texture, manufacturers put a greater amount of fats or other ingredients, leaving the food more caloric.
What Light products are for
Light products should be purchased when you want to have some reduction in a specific nutrient or in the overall calories of the product. By law, light products must contain 25% less of calories or some nutrient, such as salt, sugar, fat or protein, which is not always a significant reduction and brings health benefits.
So before buying a light product, it is important to note which nutrient has been reduced and whether this reduction is interesting for the diet being followed. It is also important to know that Diet or Light products can also be high in fat, so you have to understand why eating these foods does not always help you lose weight.
A good tip for you to make a mistake is to compare the food labels, so watch the following video and know what it is important to look at on the labels to eat better:
