Snack

Food · Grain · Food, Typed Supps

They feel light because they are mostly air, not because there is less in them.

Stage by stage

Intake (Collapses on contact): The puff dissolves as soon as it is wet, taking very little chewing and very little time.
Digestion (Fully gelatinised starch): Extrusion leaves the starch completely accessible to amylase, so digestion is unusually fast.
Absorption (Fast glucose and sprayed oil): Glucose absorbs quickly; the seed oil applied to the outside is absorbed alongside it.
Appetite (Low satiety per calorie): Low water content and the fat-and-salt combination deliver energy with little sense of fullness.

Time to effect

Under an hour: Blood glucose rises within roughly 30 minutes of eating.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. May contain: Gluten, Eggs, Milk, Peanuts, Sesame, Soya, Sulphites, Tree nuts. 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

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

Environmental footprint

1.6 kg CO2e and 648 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Wheat & rye" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.

Cost band

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

Key nutrients

Carbohydrate
Fat
Sodium

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 462
Protein: 7.4g
Carbohydrate: 54.2g
of which sugars: 6.6g
Fat: 22.6g
of which saturated: 1.9g
Fibre: 6.9g
Sodium: 320mg

Food vs. supplement

Not applicable — a savoury treat food, best compared with other snacks rather than judged against anything nutritious.

Kitchen tip

Decant a portion into a bowl. With a food that is mostly air, volume tells you nothing useful about how much you have eaten.

Common myth

“They're mostly air, so they can't be that bad.” In reality: The air makes the bag look large, not the food light. At 462 calories per 100g, roughly a fifth of the weight is oil sprayed on after puffing, and the airiness mainly makes it easier to keep eating.