December 20th 2023.
The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) is the greatest television baking competition of all time, and now there is a new study that suggests Christmas desserts from the show are much healthier than expected. If you are looking for a guilt-free Christmas, then desserts from the hit baking show could be the solution.
The research team from Emory University studied the associations between ingredients in 48 Christmas dessert recipes on the GBBO website and the risks of dying or developing various diseases. Of the 149 significant associations between ingredients and risk of death or disease, 110 estimated that the ingredients reduced this risk. The most common ingredient groups associated with a reduced risk of death or disease were fruit, coffee, and nuts.
However, there were still ingredients that increased the risk of death or disease. By far, the most dangerous ingredient was alcohol. It was associated with an increased risk of developing colon cancer, gastric cancer, gout, and irregular heart rate. In second place was sugar, which also increased the risk of death or disease.
Assistant professor Joshua Wallach said: “Overall, without the eggs, butter and sugar, this dessert is essentially a fruit salad with nuts.” He further highlighted that any recipe with fruit, even if it was only one berry, was weighted equally in terms of its protective effect in relation to the harmful effect of butter.
One example of a Christmas dessert with healthy ingredients is Rav’s Frozen Fantasy Cake, which is described as “a tall, three-layered sponge, sandwiched with passion-fruit buttercream and covered in blue-tinged vanilla buttercream.” Of the 70 significant associations for this recipe, 62 suggested that the ingredient groups decreased the risk of death or disease. It contained several healthy ingredients, including almonds and passion fruit.
Although the study did have some limitations, such as the fact that the amount of each ingredient was not accounted for, it still presents a good option for those looking for an indulgent yet healthy Christmas dessert. Professor Wallach concluded: “This Christmas, if concerns about the limitations of observational nutrition research can be set aside, we are pleased to report that everyone can have their cake and eat it too.”
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