SUPERMARKET SLEUTH
Be Selective When Picking Pasta Sauce
Years ago, it took less than a minute to
scan the varieties of pasta sauce available
on your supermarket shelves. However,
the convenience of heating up some sauce
and boiling noodles for a quick, healthy
dinner led to an explosion of sauces. Now,
you’re faced with row upon row of pasta
sauces featuring a variety of herbs, meats,
vegetables, cheeses, and more. Jarred
pasta sauces can be a low-calorie, nutrient-dense food, but grabbing just any jar
of sauce doesn’t guarantee a healthy meal.
Here’s how to narrow down the countless
choices to a handful of the healthiest.
product.” Fortunately, some
brands have created “low-sodium” or “no-salt-added” sauces.
These usually have fewer than
200 mg of sodium per serving.
The sweet side of sauce. In addition to
the extra salt in some ready-made pasta
sauces, you may find other ingredients in
amounts you didn’t expect. For example,
sugar is often added to sauce to balance
out the acidity of the tomatoes, but some
manufactures add much more than others. According to Combe, “A lower-sugar
pasta sauce should have about five grams
of sugar or less per serving.” If you’re a
fan of Alfredo or vodka sauces, beware
of the elevated saturated fat content due
to the added cream and cheeses. Most
tomato-based sauces have one to three
grams of total fat and zero to one gram
of saturated fat in a one-half-cup portion.
The cream-based sauces, on the other
hand, can have up to 10 grams of total fat
and five grams of saturated fat in a onequarter-cup portion—that’s more than
three times the fat in half as much sauce.
Organic or not? When it comes to
organic, there are usually some products
that are more worthy of their higher
price tags than others. Depending on
Avoid salt overload. As with most
your reason for choosing an organic
processed or “premade” foods, added salt
product, pasta sauces may or may not be
is a concern with jarred pasta sauces. Salt
worth the extra cost for you. Nutritionworks to enhance the flavor of foods, but
ally speaking, there isn’t much benefit to
it also works as a preservative, preventchoosing an organic sauce. Most pasta
ing the growth of certain bacteria and
sauces are pretty simple as far as their
the degradation of the food. Most jarred
ingredients go—tomatoes, oil, seasonsauces average about 300 to 600 milings, and sugar. However, with organic
ligrams (mg) of sodium per
sauces, the vegetables will
LYCOPENE LEVELS HIGHER IN COOKED TOMATOES
serving, and those containing
not have been treated with
meat or sausage tend to be even
pesticides, unlike
Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A, which plays a role in eye health,
higher. Rachel Combe,
non-organic
and vitamin C, which is involved in boosting immunity. They’re also high in
lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that offers many health benefits, including
MS, RD, CDN, a
vegetables. And,
lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration, and
dietitian at Weill
Combe says,
some cancers. And, while fresh vegetables usually are the gold standard,
Cornell Medical
“Organic sauces
in the case of tomatoes, processed ones confer more health benefits. The
Center, advises, “If
will not have
cooking process causes lycopene to become more easily absorbed by the
salt is one of the
additives and
body. And, because it takes a lot of tomatoes to cook down into sauce, you
end up getting far more lycopene in a small amount of sauce than you would
first three ingrediartificial
by eating just a few raw tomatoes. In addition, lycopene is better absorbed
ents on the label,
preservatives
in the presence of fat, so cooking the tomatoes in a healthy oil, like olive oil,
then it will be a
like
MSG or
helps the body absorb more lycopene.
higher-sodium
citric acid.”
SUPERMARKET SLEUTH: TOP 10 PASTA SAUCES*
CALORIES
FAT/SAT FAT
SODIUM
CARB
FIBER
1. Trader Giotto’s Organic Marinara No Added Salt
60
0/0g
35mg
12g
2g
2
2. Poblano Farm Pasta Sauce
50
0/0g
170mg
9g
2g
3
3. Monte Bene Spicy Marinara
40
1.5/1g
240mg
7g
2g
1
4. Cucina Antica Garlic Marinara
36
2/0g
246mg
4g
1g
1
5. Scarpetta Marinara
45
2/.5g
300mg
7g
2g
1
6. Classico Organic Spinach & Garlic
60
1/0g
320mg
10g
2g
2
7. Ragu Light Tomato & Basil No Sugar Added
70
1.5/0g
330mg
11g
2g
2
8. Muir Glen Organic Chunky Tomato & Herb
60
.5/0g
350mg
11g
2g
2
9. Muir Glen Organic Garden Vegetable
60
1/0g
350mg
10g
2g
2
10. Trader Giotto’s Organic Spaghetti Sauce with Mushrooms
45
0/0g
350mg
10g
2g
1
*All nutrition information is based on one 1/2-cup serving.
Note: Sorted in ascending order of sodium; oz = ounces, g = grams, mg = milligrams, Sat Fat = saturated fat; Carb = carbohydrates.
Nutritional Information from manufacturer label and website.
Top 10 List (based on supermarket survey of popular brands, but may not include all brands available): At or below 70 calories, 350 mg of sodium and 2 grams of fat per serving.
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PROTEIN