Your Salad Dressing Matters More Than You Think…

Dressings Can Help You Get More Out Of Your Salad’s Nutrients

We all know that using a light dressing reduces your calorie intake when you’re eating a salad. But did you know it might be preventing you from getting the most out of that salad?

Many of the beneficial vitamins and nutrients found in salads are fat soluble, meaning they are unable to be properly processed by the body without the presence of the right kind of fat. These fats can often be found within the dressings themselves.

Purdue Study On Salad Dressing

A recent study out of Purdue University found that dressings rich in monounsaturated fats required the least amount of fat to get the highest level of carotenoid absorption (the stuff that’s good for you). It also found that saturated fat and polyunsaturated fat-based dressings required the highest amount of fat to achieve the same level of benefit.

So what does that mean? Basically, dressings with certain types of fat can actually help you to get the most out of your salad as far as nutrients. While light dressings do indeed contain fewer calories, their lack of these fats can actually prevent your body from properly processing the nutrients, greatly reducing the nutrition content of that salad.

Monounsaturated Fat Benefits

Based on the study, dressings with monounsaturated fats (such as canola oil) allowed the body to process the fat-soluble nutrients in the most efficient manner. This means you don’t need to drench the salad in the dressing in order to achieve the optimal fat to nutrient ratio, allowing you to get those nutrients without significantly increasing your calorie intake.

So if you want the most bang for your buck out of your next salad, you may want to set the light stuff aside and look for a monounsaturated fat in the nutrition facts. It’s better for you than you might think!