Bill W. asks, “Is drinking many of our fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds in a smoothie as healthy and nutritious as eating them?”
Surprisingly, even though the whole food we pop into the blender may have the same nutrients as the liquid smoothie, how those nutrients are absorbed can be affected by their form and structure.
A 2019 paper published in the journal Food & Function describes how researchers tested the digestibility of three different forms of foods (solid, semisolid and liquid) that were identical in nutrient content. Then they measured how the varied forms of food affected appetite and specific blood tests in human subjects.
Interestingly, scientists found that the liquid food caused a higher rise in triglycerides (a form of fat in the blood) than the solid food. The liquid food also caused less fullness and satisfaction (satiety) than the solid food.
Read the article at madison.com