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What Are Snack Foods?

For the fiscal year ending in 2009, The Hershey Company made $5.3 billion from selling chocolate confectionary. In the same year, Frito-Lay, manufacturer of corn and potato chip snacks, made $13 billion. In contrast, the 4 million plus tons of apples produced in America in 2005 only produced their growers $750 million. Statistics like these suggest that, while many snack foods are big business, the American public seems to gravitate towards unhealthy foods when choosing snacks. Whether healthy or not, snack foods are a significant part of the American diet.

  1. What are They?

    • Snacks are small portions of food eaten between or in lieu of a meal to satiate hunger. Although people snack for many positive reasons, in many cases, the act of snacking has been psychologically linked to boredom and to comforting oneself during a period of emotional turmoil. During such episodes, it is more customary for people to reach for unhealthy, sugary snacks as opposed to healthy ones. There is, therefore, some trepidation among scientists and dieticians as to the benefits of snacking.

    Examples of Snacks

    • Good examples of snacks include fresh fruit and raw root vegetables such as apples and celery, grains and seeds such as oats and sunflower seeds, and nuts, all of which provide you with various vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Bad snack foods are high in sugar and complex carbohydrates or have little or no nutritional value. These include chocolate, hamburgers, fries, most potato chips and ice cream.

    Benefits of Snacking

    • It is not always easy for some people to sit down and eat a substantial meal at certain times of day. Business people and active teenagers are often on the go, and snacking can provide them with at least part of their nutritional and energy requirements. Many products on the market are aimed at these kinds of people, and a variety of healthy snacks are available to stop them from reaching for something unhealthy. Snacking, when done right, can keep a busy person topped up with the elements of dietary needs throughout the day.

    Disadvantages of Snacking

    • A 2006 study into the psychology of snacking conducted by the College of Business at Illinois showed that many people choose something unhealthy for a snack because it is convenient and attractively packaged. On top of that, buying snacks can actually be more costly than buying a meal in some cases. Sugary snacks can provide you with a temporary sugar rush, but it is soon followed by a slump which leaves you feeling lethargic.

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