(by Nicola Simonetti) Camille Gaubert addresses the topic on Sciences et Avenir (18.01.2019) and interviews Dr. Monique Romon, former president of the Société Française de Nutrition.
“A complete and balanced meal that contains - says Ramon - 100% of the recommended nutritional intake is not suspected of generating any deficiency. These are meal replacements in the form of powders to be reconstituted with the addition of liquids or nutritional bars. Each product corresponds, in terms of nutrients, to one third of the recommended food ration and the products on the market (in particular, refers to the "Feed") keep their promises even if, compared to real foods, they are not the ideal.
The problem becomes such if the subject consumes one product a day and abstains from any other food. On the nutritional level nothing quaestio but the prof. Romon does not recommend these products even for people who have little time to eat ... it's a question of knowing how to manage their time.
The teacher. Romon points out that “foods are anything but a sum of nutrients. Their bioavailability can vary the way and speed (bars and powders more rapidly) of absorption by the body ... lycopene, for example, that is the antioxidants contained in tomatoes, is used differently depending on whether they are cooked or raw .
Moreover - underlines the interviewee - bars and powders exclude the pleasure component that is inherent in every food consumed and which is also very important for the purposes of nutrition medicine. The plastic containers of these packages can also create problems for the environment.
However - the interviewee recommends - never these preparations as a diet. They are the last choice for controlling your weight. To do this, "we relearn to eat according to hunger, satiety and pleasure ... the artificial, undoubtedly practical, both to cope with moments of emergency that leave no time to prepare or eat the usual meal". But, even for emergencies, prof. Romon suggests quick preparations and meals with easily accessible or previously prepared foods… a matter of good time management.
"On the health level, these products for smartfood (Feed and the like) are consumed in the context of a classic diet and almost never to replace the classic diet altogether".