Vegetable soup, prepared or natural? Which one is healthier

We are at a time when the hurry and the stress Daily is the order of the day, in which - sometimes - preparing a good plate of food becomes an odyssey, and why, among other issues, prepared vegetable soups were born. But what is a better option? the soups of prepared vegetables waves natural prepared soups?

It was back in the 1940s when the first of the prepared soups was made in the United States; and, since then, large companies have been multiplying the great variety of flavors, so that today we find a dozen different soups.

The prepared soups: additives, monosodium glutamate and high salt content

There are basically two kinds of prepared soups: those that are presented in envelopes, in dehydrated components that must be cooked, and those that are presented in watery cans, so that they should only be heated.

Fats and flavor enhancers are added to this type of soups so that, therefore, they acquire a stronger flavor.

Far from indicating that, in watery can soups, there have been found significant amounts of heavy metals (such as cadmium), the main problem of soups prepared in sachet is that they have additives that can be certainly negative for health.

This is the case, for example, of monosodium glutamate, a substance that can cause severe allergic reactions, which can cause dizziness, palpitations and nervous problems.

But one of the main problems that we find in this type of preparations (whether soups in envelopes such as popular soup noodles to prepare the microwave that have become so well known in recent years), is its high salt content. While that high content is found in the soup envelope itself, in the case of Japanese soups of instant noodles (type Yakisoba or Yatekomo) we find them in the soy sauce that accompanies them.

Thus, the consumption of this type of soups prepared in people with hypertension is not recommended, precisely because of its high salt content.

And the prepared natural soups?

Unlike the soups prepared in themselves, the natural prepared soups are different from the ones in that they contain pieces of dehydrated varied vegetables, and the monosodium glutamate has been eliminated.

Although they come already prepared themselves and are equally dehydrated, they try to make the flavor ingredients as natural as possible. In this case, for example, we find the organic farming soups.

Homemade soups made at home: the best

Although as we have seen, in the market we can choose from a wide variety of soups prepared in very different containers (over, brick ...), the truth is that we must look very much at its ingredient label (and its nutritional labeling) to make sure if they contain additives and if their nutritional composition would leave much to be desired.

Thus, if for example we observe ingredients such as "hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats or oils", "refined sunflower oil", "palm oil", "sugar", or additives such as "monosodium glutamate"; or if we observe that their contribution in sodium is high, it is best to leave them on the supermarket shelf and discard them.

Therefore, almost without a doubt, the best option is to opt for homemade vegetable soups, that we can also elaborate easily and very easily at home. Why? Mainly because only we will choose the ingredients with which we are going to prepare them, being more common that we choose fresh vegetables and vegetables, and we can even better control the amount of salt that we add to it.

Our recommendation

It is always better to opt for the natural than for what is already prepared, especially if it has additives or chemical components that are best avoided.

But if you do not have much time to prepare a good natural soup, we can always opt for natural prepared soups, which will always be much healthier than those prepared industrially. For example: choose soups prepared with ingredients from organic farming.

However, check that they do not contain additives such as flavor enhancers or glutamate, and that vegetable fats are not hydrogenated (and their origin is known). This article is published for informational purposes only. You can not and should not replace the consultation with a Nutritionist. We advise you to consult your trusted Nutritionist.