Calorie bomb Finished yoghurt dressings make salad difficult to eat

Consumer advocates warn against calorie bombs by instant dressing
Especially at high summer temperatures, many people especially like to eat salad. Because it tastes fresh and offers a healthy alternative to pasta, pizza and Co. When dressing consumers often turn to finished products that suggest a light and low-calorie enjoyment by inscriptions such as "with yogurt". But instead, the marinades can turn the salad into a true calorie bomb.

"Yoghurt" makes consumers think of light pleasure
Whether a salad with delicious tuna, spicy sheep's cheese or fresh tomatoes and cucumbers: Without the right dressing the light summer dish tastes only half as good. There are a variety of ready-made dressings on the market that can be quickly and easily poured over the green leaves and consumed immediately. Above all, inscriptions such as "with light yoghurt" or "fresh yoghurt" suggest a low-calorie variant. However, consumers are often deceived here. Because the "easy promise" can be observed only rarely in finished products, report the consumer advocates of the Chamber of Labor (AK) Upper Austria.

Home-made yoghurt dressing offers distinct advantages over finished products. (Image: Viktorija / fotolia.com)

Testers evaluate ingredients and nutritional information of eight products
The experts randomly selected eight commercially available yoghurt dressings from different manufacturers and rated them based on the declared ingredients and nutritional information. The test products included the "Block House Salad Dressing Yoghurt" from Pro Kaufland (€ 0.80), the "Three Spatz Organic Yoghurt Dressing" from Denn's (€ 1.16) and the "Bold Yogurt Salad Dressing" from Eurospar for 56 cents per 100ml.

"The overall result is not intoxicating," according to the information from the Chamber of Labor. Because although the names suggest otherwise, all test products consisted mostly of water and only a maximum of 30 percent from yogurt. To achieve the desired sauce consistency, thickening agent would be added. A circumstance by which the testers ask themselves the question of whether a price of up to 11.60 euros per liter is still appropriate.

Front-runner contains 237 kilocalories and 21 grams of fat
The supposedly "easy enjoyment" could not convince either. Instead, at least twice or even three times as many calories were found in the instant dressings as in a home-made salad sauce. The peak here was the "Spak yoghurt dressing" from Merkur (0.85 Euro) with 237 kilocalories and 21 grams of fat per 100 milliliters. The "lightest" product in the test was the "Spar Yoghurt Dressing" (0.24 €), which still contained 11 grams of fat per 100ml.

Also, the salt content was the testers with 0.9 to 2.2 grams per 100 ml relatively high, just because adults according to current recommendations daily should receive no more than 6 grams of sodium chloride. "Health-conscious nutrition looks different", so the conclusion of the Chamber of Labor. Accordingly, you should always pay close attention to the nutritional value table when shopping so as not to accidentally fall into the calorie and fat trap.

Better prepare your own dressing
The best solution of course is a homemade dressing that can be produced quickly and easily with just a few ingredients. Recommended here is e.g. a recipe for which 150 grams of yogurt is mixed with one tablespoon of sour cream or cream, lemon juice and minced garlic or shallots. Then half a bunch of fresh herbs (or frozen herbs) is added and seasoned with salt and pepper. An actually light pleasure, because according to the AK, this dressing would only amount to about 70 kilocalories and 5 grams of fat per 100 milliliters. (No)