Dressing

Food · Fat & Oil · Food, Typed Supps

Dressing is mostly oil and salt, and the oil is the part that helps you absorb what is in the salad.

Stage by stage

Intake (Coats the vegetables): The dressing puts oil in direct contact with the salad before it is swallowed.
Digestion (Bile emulsifies the fat): Bile salts and lipase break the oil into micelles in the small intestine.
Absorption (Carotenoids ride along): Fat-soluble pigments from the salad partition into those micelles and are absorbed; without fat, most pass through.
Whole diet (Sodium and sugar add up): The salt and added sugar in commercial dressings absorb regardless and count towards daily totals.

Time to effect

Within the meal: The improvement in carotenoid absorption happens during that meal.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. May contain: Celery, Gluten, Eggs, Fish, Milk, Mustard, Soya, Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

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

Satiety

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

Cost band

Mid — roughly £8 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Fat (as an absorption vehicle)
Vitamin E
Sodium
Added sugar

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 357
Protein: 1g
Carbohydrate: 16.6g
of which sugars: 14.7g
Fat: 31.8g
of which saturated: 3.4g
Fibre: 1.4g
Sodium: 878mg

Food vs. supplement

Not a supplement category. Between dressings, the oil-and-vinegar style delivers the same absorption benefit as a commercial creamy dressing without roughly 14g of sugars and 878mg of sodium per 100g.

Kitchen tip

Make it: three parts oil to one part vinegar, salt, mustard to hold it together. It takes a minute and removes the sugar and most of the sodium while keeping the part that matters.

Common myth

“Fat-free dressing is the healthier option.” In reality: Removing the fat removes the mechanism by which a salad's carotenoids are absorbed, and manufacturers usually raise the sugar to replace the lost mouthfeel. A measured spoonful of oil-based dressing is the better trade.