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WE’VE HEARD IT again and again: Cooking at home is the healthier choice. Right?
Actually, it may be pretty wrong. Recent research out of the UK suggests that sometimes, that may not be the case. So depending on what cookbook you’re using, it may be time to shelve it for a little while. Here’s why.
WHAT’S THE DEAL? Watch those calories
Whether it’s from a magazine, a government, or great-Grandma, advice about improving healthy eating habits usually points to home cooking as the answer. Eating away from home has been linked with diets higher in calories and lower in micronutrients such as iron, calcium, and vitamin C [1] [2].
Findings from recent studies, however, suggest cooking at home may not always be the better option. A group of British researchers compared the nutritional profiles of “home-cooked” meals created by celebrity chefs to those of prepared meals sold in local supermarkets [3]. The study compared 100 supermarket meals with 100 main meal recipes (with items from two or more food groups) created by UK-based TV chefs. The prepared meals were randomly chosen store-brands from the three biggest grocery chains in the UK. The items had to be main-dish meals, come in containers used for both heating and serving, and be ready to eat in fifteen minutes or less. (Think microwavable TV dinners.)
The 100 chef-created recipes came from Amazon UK’s December list of the top five bestselling cookbooks with a TV series tie-in on the cover, featured a single chef, and included main-dish recipes. The five lucky books? “30 Minute Meals” by Jamie Oliver, “Baking Made Easy” by Lorraine Pascale, “Ministry of Food” by Jamie Oliver, “Kitchen” by Nigella Lawson, and “River Cottage Everyday” by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
The researchers compiled a random selection of meal recipes from these cookbooks for the study. Both the TV dinners and chef recipes were meant to be served as a main dish.
Looking at the nutritional content (total calories, protein, carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, fat, saturated fat, and fibre) of the recipes and meals, researchers tried to answer a simple question: Is one type of meal or the other healthier?
They used the World Health Organization’s (WHO) dietary guidelines and the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidelines as nutritional standards for comparison. (The WHO guidelines are similar to the USDA Guidelines; both aim to promote health and reduce risk for chronic disease.)
Although the two sets of guidelines differ a bit, both give the breakdown of calorie percentages that should come from fat, protein, and carbohydrates. They also set daily limits on salt, cholesterol, and saturated fat, though it’s important to remember some healthy diets can vary from these recommendations.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, whose Ministry of Food book was one of those tested by researchers for the nutritional make-up of its recipes. Image: PA Images archive
The results were pretty surprising. Not a single ready meal or recipe met all of the WHO guidelines [3]. And the chef-created recipes appeared to be less healthy than the store-bought meals: They were typically higher in calories and lower in fiber. In sodium, however, the chefs’ meals fared a bit better than ready meals, meeting theFSA guideline of less than 0.6 grams of sodium per 100 grammes of food. Now, it’s worth keeping in mind — as the researchers mention at the end of their report — that these WHO standards are based on average intake over time rather than individual meals. However, the researchers chose to use the WHO standards because of the lack of other international criteria on which to base their study.
It’s not the only study to report these results: Another group of researchers found 87 per cent of recipes from popular British chefs don’t measure up to FSA guidelines.
WHY IT MATTERS – a recipe for disaster?
Some researchers argue celebrity chefs can have considerable influence on audiences’ food choices and could be contributing to Britain’s obesity epidemic. If that’s true, it’s certainly possible the same could be true in other countries, including the U.S. Sky-high obesity rates — 26.1 per cent of adults in England and 35.7 per cent of adults in the US — present a huge challenge for public health. Obesity increases the risk for all sorts of chronic diseases, including heart disease and diabetes [5]. And eating more energy-dense foods such as fast food and restaurant meals has been linked to higher body fat, which can also lead to similar problems [6] [7].
So is the freezer aisle or restaurant the only option left for dinner? No way. Take these study results with a grain of salt (but watch those sodium limits!) and don’t throw out the cookbooks just yet. While some research does show recipes from top TV chefs might lean toward unhealthy, this doesn’t hold true for all recipes and cookbooks.
And just because ready meals appear to be healthier in some respects does not mean they are nutritional superstars. Vitamins, minerals, and additives weren’t considered in the study’s evaluation, so the nutritional picture presented isn’t so complete [3]. And going out for dinner every night is probably isn’t the answer: Other research has linked eating away from home with higher calorie and fat intake, and lower micronutrient consumption [2].
THE TAKEAWAY – Conscious cooking
Don’t be fooled: Prepared meals are not always healthier than what you may cook at home. But the surrounding research does bring to light an important point. Cooking at home can be healthier, but it isn’t automatically so.
Keep an eye on portion size and ingredients — not on the Food Network. And don’t forget to take a look at Greatist’s healthy recipe collection!
- Emily Shoemaker
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It’s very simple, fresh, heavily prepared and cooked, appropriate sized home made meals will always be the healthiest choice!
Healthy *
Bummer. Heavily prepared dinner sounded too good to be true.,
We all need to learn more about food – basic nutrition, food preparation & cooking should be taught to all kids in school. It amazes me how many misconceptions people have about what they eat – whether it is home cooked or not. And in general, I think the number one problem is portion control.
The other evening we were talking to my niece (who is in secondary school) and mentioned how much he sugar was in a can of Fanta. She was shocked – she couldn’t understand how “orange” could be unhealthy for you if you drank too much of it. I know she is young, but I was shocked that she was shocked!
You may as well go all the way now and tell her that Fanta was really just Coca Cola for the Nazis!
You should also tell her that sugar is actually the Devils dandruff.
Don’t chefs make good business by making food that is tasty first and healthy second?
I love my salt, however I never add salt to anything I cook. I will sprinkle it on to my own food, when its dished up, but not on my kids or husbands food.
Enjoy having kids deficient in sodium.
I can’t add salt to food due to my husband having high bp. They get enough salt eating taytoes and cereal and other food stuffs that contain salt.
When I was at sea the salt tablets would appear on the table when we got to hot places and you took at least 6 a day in addition to what you put on your food or face a fine if you came down with heat exhaustion. You will also see salt for putting in your beer on the bars in Texas :-)
You would also be drinking a lot of water, you need to balance things out. If its really hot you drink a lot of water without sodium you would be at risk of water intoxication and your brain would swell one would get fluid on the brain and risk possible death.
If he has high blood pressure, it would probably be better if he didn’t have taytoes (sic) and other prepared salty food?
Patrice, I think Karla meant that she doesn’t put salt in the cooking because of her husband’s bp so the children get their salt intake through other means, like crisps, etc.
I knew just eating microwave meals and takeaways all time(so I don’t have to wash up) :-), was the way to go! See Mam I am being healthy!
Well if someones idea of home cooking is using all those half products like pre made sauces then yes microwave meals might be better.
I watch some of the tv chef programs. When it comes to the “little bit of seasoning” they seem to add enough salt to fill a teaspoon. That to me seems excessive and I tend to use a tiny fraction of that in my cooking. If a meal is likely to be bland without a lot of salt, then I would add other seasoning such as more pepper or other herbs and spices.
I live on T V type dinners.
Nothing wrong with them or me.
That could explain your name.
Maybe if you ate some you can call yourself big Jim.
Jamie Oliver ? You are having a joke ?. Years ago BTW a study showed that kids who got a nice meal of fish and chips and baked beans from the chipper [using beef dripping] were well nourished as the meal had a balance of the nutrients needed.
Have you ever noticed the amount of oil he puts on food when he adds a “splash”?
He calls it a “lug”. It’s ridiculous!
@Morticia You’re having a laugh, aren’t you? Deep fried fish (presumably in a batter) and chips done in dripping couldn’t possibly be healthy, although the baked beans would offer some nutritional value. Christ I can feel me cholesterol going up just thinking about it. If you have a link to or can cite that report in any detail I’d genuinely be interested in reading it.
While chefs, like Jamie Oliver, do tend to be a bit liberal with the olive oil this can be beneficial in many ways and studies have shown that diets high in oils like olive oil have less incidence of diseases associated with Western diets. It tends to be high in monounsaturated fat and polyphenols, which may have benefits for the heart, although the exact mechanisms aren’t fully understood, its good for the heart, cholesterol levels, and has multiple other health benefits.
In the West we tend to have a poor diet compared to other cultures like the Mediterranean, and if you want to a live long and healthy life the Japanese diet especially the island of Okinawa where the people live the longest and healthiest lives. Many there live beyond 100 and health problems like cancer are uncommon. They eat three servings of fish a week, on average, plenty of whole grains, vegetables and soy products too, more tofu and more konbu seaweed than anyone else in the world, as well as squid and octopus with little or no saturated fat. That steak is out.
Science however says that genes play a big part and to live long and healthy like a Japanese you have to first be born Japanese, but the next best thing is a Mediterranean diet, one rich in olive oil. See those chefs knew something.
@Jed I. Knight
Link ?? I did say years ago and this refered to a time when food was scarce and indeed a time when kids actually played for hours outside and burned up lots of energy. A time when obesity was purely a medical condition and not a life-style. It was a serious report done at a time when malnutrition was a major issue here and in the UK. Just for what it’s worth and without links:-) a study of the same vintage into a sudden rise in heart attacks in the logging fraternity in Sweden showed that the large amounts of fats and dairy produce consumed was now dangerous as the chain-saw had been invented and the lads were not working as hard and burning off the excess. So, like safety on the water, common sense is needed. Aldi’s Solesta olive oil is a delight, you could almost drink it from the bottle ;-)
I understand. I remember reading one of those studies from the UK a long time ago where a milk company made the bold claim that men who drank something like a pint of milk a day were proven to be healthier, less heart attacks, lived longer etc. Someone looked into the claim and it was true, but not because of drinking milk, at least not solely because of it. It seemed men who drank milk each day back then (this was before bottled water took off) tended to be more aware of their diet and health and took better care of themselves, it was this that caused them to be healthier and live longer.
As to Aldi’s olive oil, I’ll take your word for it, seriously drink it from the bottle?
Did anyone read that ! :D
Depends a lot on what people are cooking at home though.
Obesity could be wiped out if people started to realise their arseholes are smaller than their cake holes.
The best is when you eat fresh meadow green grass and drink mountain creek water. Very healthy etc. everything else is bad and will kill you.
No. They’re not
If cooked by mother in law then yes.
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