Scientists recently attempted to identify areas for dietary intervention and improvement in the area of snacking by answering the questions “What is a snack?”, “Why do we snack?”, and “what food choices are people making when they snack?”. The authors of the recently published review paper examine the social, environmental, and individual influences on snack choices and explore associations of snacking with health outcomes, such as lipid profiles and weight. As consumers choose to consume more of their food as snacks rather than meals, the food industry must attempt to deliver snacks that help consumers meet their nutrient needs. Our blog, Snacking Under the Nutrition Lens, provides some insights on the nutritional challenges of snacks.
The authors of the review include two advisors of the Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute: Joanne Slavin, Phd, RD and Satya Jonnalagadda, PhD, MBA, RD.
Hess, JM; SS. Jonnalagadda, JL Slavin. What Is a Snack, Why Do We Snack, and How Can We Choose Better Snacks? A Review of the Definitions of Snacking, Motivations to Snack, Contributions to Dietary Intake, and Recommendations for Improvement. Adv Nutr May 2016 Adv Nutr vol. 7: 466-475, 2016. http://advances.nutrition.org/content/7/3/466.abstract
