Dip

Food · Legume · Food, Typed Supps

A high-fat food where the fat is the good part — the salt is the part worth watching.

Stage by stage

Intake (Eaten with a vehicle): Always paired with bread, crackers or vegetables, and the vehicle usually dominates the meal's carbohydrate load.
Stomach (Emptying slowed): Emulsified fat with protein and fibre delays gastric emptying, making the dip more satiating than its vehicle alone.
Absorption (Unsaturated fat taken up): Olive oil and tahini supply mostly mono- and polyunsaturated fat, with only 1.83g of 19.5g saturated.
Large intestine (Fibre fermented): Chickpea fibre and resistant starch are fermented to short-chain fatty acids by the colonic microbiota.

Time to effect

Hours: Satiety from the fat, protein and fibre outlasts the vehicle eaten alone.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Keto, Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

108 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — moderate. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.

Environmental footprint

1 kg CO2e and 397 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Peas" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.

Cost band

Cheap — roughly £2.5 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Unsaturated fat
Fibre
Folate

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 248
Protein: 6.9g
Carbohydrate: 9.4g
of which sugars: 0.8g
Fat: 19.5g
of which saturated: 1.8g
Fibre: 3.9g
Sodium: 410mg

Food vs. supplement

Not a supplement category. The meaningful contrast is base against base — legume and oil, dairy, or mayonnaise — because that choice, not the presence of a dip, decides the fatty acid profile and whether there is any fibre at all.

Kitchen tip

The tub's sodium figure is the number to check, at roughly 410mg per 100g. Homemade lets you set the salt and raise the tahini for more calcium and sesame lignans; extra lemon juice lets you use less salt for the same perceived seasoning.

Common myth

"Hummus is high in fat, so a low-fat dip is the better choice." In reality: Sorting dips by total fat gets the order almost exactly backwards. Hummus is 19.5g fat per 100g with only 1.83g saturated, plus fibre, folate and plant protein; low-fat dairy dips often replace the fat with starch and extra salt.