What do ready-made food products contain?

Prepackaged or ready-made dishes include a range of products that are sold fully or partially cooked. They are generally designed to be eaten after heating in the oven or microwave. Given our busy lifestyles, they are an affordable option for a quick meal. However, they tend to be unhealthy with a potentially inflammatory effect.

Components of ready-made food products

Ready-made products often include significant amounts of:

1. Salt: Most ready-made meals contain a lot of salt (equivalent to 1.25 grams or more per 100 grams of product). It is well known that excessive sodium intake is linked to hypertension. Most of the salt we consume is not the salt we use in the kitchen or add to dishes but rather comes from ultra-processed products and ready-made meals. 
    
2. Free sugars: Free sugars are present in pastries, sugary soft drinks, industrially produced sauces, juices, breakfast cereals, energy bars, jams, sweetened dairy products and ready-made meals, among others. The WHO (World Health Organisation) recommends that consumption of these types of sugars should be limited to less than 10% of the total daily energy intake. 
    
3. Artificial sweeteners: The ones most widely used by the food industry are acesulfame-k (E-950), aspartame (E-951), saccharin (E-954), xylitol (E-967) and erythritol (E-968). Regular consumption of these sweeteners is linked to disruption of the intestinal microbiota.
    
4. Poor quality fat: Ready-made foods are often made with trans fats, hydrogenated fats or refined vegetable oils that have been processed at high temperatures. All of these are considered poor-quality fats that, when consumed, contribute to increased oxidative stress and, consequently, greater risk of chronic inflammation.
    
5. Refined flour: Refined flours are those that have undergone processing to remove the bran and germ from the grain. As a result of this, much of the nutritional value (fibre, vitamins and minerals) is lost. They are mainly used to make bread, pasta and pastries and to thicken sauces, among other uses. As with sugars, refined flours have a high glycaemic index, which causes blood glucose surges followed by hypoglycaemia. This leads to feelings of tiredness and lack of energy and increases the urge to eat constantly.
    
6. Other additives: Other examples are nitrates, nitrites, artificial colours, phosphates, emulsifiers such as carrageenan, flavour enhancers such as MSG, etc. Moderate consumption of additives is not necessarily unhealthy, but ready-made and ultra-processed products often contain long lists of additives. Some of these have been linked to specific health problems.

How to choose the best ready-made food products?

Although most ready-made meals are of poor nutritional quality, it is possible to find better options. To do this, check:

• Salt content (less than 1,5 grams every portion).
• Avoid added sugar or artificial sweeteners.
• If oil is used, olive oil is preferable.
• If flour is an ingredient, 100% wholemeal flour is the best option.
• The fewer the number of ingredients, the better.

Keep in mind that our diet should be based on real plant-based foods, such as fruit, vegetables, pulses, tubers, nuts and dried fruit... To a lesser extent, foods of animal origin can be added, such as eggs, fish and lean meats, as well as some minimally processed products.