Food Tip: Hummus and Preservatives

by Shereen Jegtvig

I love hummus!  It’s delicious and good for you because it contains only healthy ingredients – just chickpeas, tahini (from sesame seeds), olive oil and a little garlic (and maybe some other tasty additions or seasonings).  Hummus has healthy monounsaturated fats and protein and when you combine some hummus with whole-wheat pita bread, you’ll have a healthy snack that will keep you feeling full for quite a while.

It’s always interesting to look up a normally healthy food, like hummus, on the FoodEssentials tool, to see just how badly processing can change it.  We want convenient foods that last a long time, but that comes with a lot of added preservatives and ingredients that we may not want and definitely don’t need.

So today I looked up hummus on the tool.  Ouch.

There’s only one brand of hummus listed, but all of the different varieties are laden with extra ingredients such as sodium benzoate, citric acid, sorbic acid and high fructose corn syrup.  While research shows these ingredients to be safe to consume, a lot of people are sensitive to them and get sick.  Why would I want these ingredients in something as wholesome and healthy as hummus?

You can make your own hummus, but if you want to buy it in your grocery store, make sure to look at that ingredients list.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
• Added Sugar increases risk of Heart Disease
• Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
• Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
• Choosing Canned Meat