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Jan. 31, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:53
Healthy Coffee Secrets & Food Truths You Need to Know! | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 140 | Full Episode
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Give your cup of Joe a jolt.
The healthy coffee you should be drinking if you only knew about it.
Then, protein-boosted foods.
When you add the protein, what else do you add?
We investigate if they're good for your health.
And blueberry muffins, cereals, and yogurts.
Turns out those blueberries may not be blueberries after all.
So what are they?
Our Food Truth series gets to the bottom of it.
it coming up next we'll save lives today We are ready to get healthy.
Today, a food truth hour.
You're not going to want to miss.
And we're starting with the world's most popular drug.
You know what that drug is?
It's coffee.
In this country, we drink 400 million cups of it a day, making Americans the biggest coffee drinkers on the planet.
Congratulations.
But recent reports have questioned whether hidden chemicals have made their way into our coffee.
So for all you coffee lovers out there, we're investigating exactly what's in your cup.
From the bean to your creamer, and even those new coffee pod cups that are so popular right now.
And that's not all.
We're after the food truth behind all of your favorite foods.
Like, as an example, the new protein-enhanced foods showing up on grocery shelves everywhere.
Are they really giving you a healthy boost, or is it just a scam?
And how about those little blueberry bits in your muffins and the granola bars you're eating, and even in the yogurts, right?
Are they even blueberries at all?
We're going to find out.
But first, we've sent an investigative reporter, Mark Schatzker, out on a coffee run.
Nothing beats the smell of coffee.
Americans love it so much that coffee is our second most valuable traded commodity.
But anything that tastes that good just has to be bad for you, right?
Maybe that explains why for decades we've been worried sick about the effect all this coffee is having on us.
Check this out.
1927. After swirling rumors that coffee will stunt your growth, a study is published claiming children are drinking a cup of coffee a day, leading to mass panic.
Don't worry, it wasn't true.
1973, a major, highly publicized study links coffee to heart attacks, but fortunately, untrue.
In the last 10 years, the tide has turned, with new studies suggesting coffee is actually good for you, claiming it reduces risk for certain type of cancers, type 2 diabetes, and even Parkinson's.
But just as we were getting used to the idea of coffee as a healthy drink, new research has sounded the alarm over pesticides and other chemicals that might be harmful.
So I wanted to know, what's really in our coffee?
To find out, I paid a visit to one of New York City's top coffee roasters and retailers, Jeremy Lyman, owner of Birch Coffee.
What is the latest on pesticides in my brew?
The jury is still out.
We have people that say that pesticides are harmful, and we also have people that say that pesticide residue is cooked off in the roasting process.
So do you think people should drink organic coffee then?
If people are concerned about pesticides, then organic is definitely a good start.
But the most important thing is that people are not afraid to finish their cup of coffee.
This is safe.
I can keep drinking my coffee.
Absolutely.
I can keep loving it.
Okay, what's in coffee?
What is it that makes it so good?
98% of this cup of coffee is water.
98% is just plain old water.
That's right.
So what's in the other 2%?
I took a trip to New Jersey to meet coffee expert and entrepreneur Dr. Bob Arnott, who took me to his coffee importer where he sources some of the world's best beans.
So Dr. Arnott, what's in the 2% of coffee that isn't water?
So these solubles that you pull out with brewing are basically chemicals, and there are thousands of them.
See, that's interesting, because the word chemical frightens so many people, they think it's poisonous.
And yet, you know, many of these chemicals are extremely healthy, such as what we call polyphenols.
Yeah, what is a polyphenol?
Polyphenols are a very, very powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant compound, just like you'd find in fresh fruits, vegetables, red wines, and green teas.
Only, the surprise is, that coffee has more than any of those.
Greatest source in the American diet.
Dr. Arnott explained that the amount of polyphenols depends on where the beans come from, but also how they're roasted.
This is the very darkest roast.
It's what a lot of Americans like, but this has very, very few polyphenols in it.
Why?
Because the longer it's roasted, the more you destroy the polyphenols.
In our own laboratory, we've looked at the results, and we can see very most polyphenols in the lightest roast.
But people see light roast, and they think, bathwater.
That's going to be a weak cup of coffee.
Think this is light?
Try it.
Oh, that tastes great.
And this is where you're going to find all the benefits.
Sold?
I'm sold.
Mars Esker is here in person.
Now when we talk about the chemicals in your cup, we really should be finding out how to get more of the good stuff.
And that's the trick here.
How do we buy coffee with the most added health benefits?
So I've given you a whole panoply of options here.
How do we know what to get when we go order this stuff?
Okay, so we're looking for polyphenols.
This is antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, believed to have all sorts of health benefits.
And there's a really good news story here.
Because we're not getting this polyphenols from some obscure berry in the rainforest.
We're getting it from America's favorite beverage, coffee.
However, not all beans are created equal.
It turns out these beans over here, the very dark roast beans, this is the coffee a lot of Americans love, actually has the least amount of polyphenols because they get burned off.
So if you're going for the biggest bang for your buck, you want to come down here to these lighter roasts.
That's where you get the most polyphenols.
I don't know if you've done this, but please try.
This is unbelievable.
So these taste actually burnt almost.
Yeah.
These really roast ones.
There's oil on there.
Whereas these...
I mean, frankly, they smell like dirt.
They get earthy.
Yeah, it gets earthier.
Earthy, that's the word.
This is closer to a raw bean.
But as raw, this could easily be a lentil bean that smells like that.
But these ones are the ones that have most of the polyphenols.
They have the most polyphenols, yes.
I've got to admit, I'm not a big coffee drinker, but the aroma is more enticing when it's more roasted.
Is that why we eat more season?
And what if you want to get the health benefits and you like the roasted flavor?
Great question.
It turns out...
The really dark roast is what a lot of people think of as coffee because that's all they've ever had.
For people who think coffee is really bitter and kind of acrid, it's because it's a really heavily roasted bean.
That's one reason a lot of people put a ton of cream and a ton of sugar in it to get rid of that burnt flavor.
So my advice is if you still want some of that roasty, nutty flavor, come to here, the medium roast.
You get your polyphenols, you get the flavor you're looking for.
The first time you try it, you might think, oh, that doesn't taste like my regular coffee.
In a few days, that will taste great.
It's a good marriage.
You do have the earthy smell to it a little bit, but it's not quite this big, overwhelming burnt.
And I think you're right.
And that's maybe why I don't drink coffee too much.
The other problem I have in surgery, you don't have to go to the bathroom, which is a big problem.
Actually, you might think doctors drink coffee, but surgeons before surgery don't.
But this maybe we'll get away with.
Let's show everyone what the health benefits are.
And these are huge.
And more and more we're getting comfortable.
It's the number one source of antioxidants in our diet.
So it's a big deal, and that's why this is a good new show for everybody.
Top to bottom, head to toe.
What do we know?
What if it's been observed about the effect that coffee can have on you?
That's how much you move.
It can lower your risk for depression.
And your memory improves.
Recent studies just show that actually improve long-term memory.
Not just short-term memory, but long-term, because you actually deposit the memory banks with the information you need, because you're awake.
Your heart actually can increase the blood flow to your body, but also to your heart itself.
And for a lot of people, there's no increase in heart rate either.
The skin...
Benefits have been now revealed, and it can decrease the risk of skin cancer.
Of course, it increases your energy.
You all know that.
But the liver, this is a big one.
One of the first places that I observed there's a clear benefit was the fact that it seems to protect the liver against a lot of diseases.
A big deal because your liver is a detoxifying organ.
So these polyphenols may help the liver get there.
Lowers the risk for diabetes.
We're talking a lot about how common that is.
One in three of us have prediabetes now.
And even your feet, it can reduce the risk of gout.
So it's got everything, head to toe, if...
You drink it the white way.
So what should we be looking for when we go out to a market or to the grocery store to buy some coffee?
What you want is freshness.
That's what you're going for in coffee.
So my advice is go to a specialty roaster.
These people source the best beans.
They take the best care of them.
Now, you can get great coffee at the supermarket.
I do it all the time.
Again, think about freshness.
The enemy is light and air.
So when you see those big open-air bins of coffee sitting around, you see that coffee oil, that coffee could be going stale.
You don't want that stuff.
What you want to look for is a package just like this.
And there's something that's really hard to see here.
It's this little valve.
It turns out that when beans are sitting in the bag, they produce CO2. So you don't want your bag to explode.
They have this little one-way valve that lets the CO2 out, but it doesn't let the oxygen...
Have you guys ever noticed that little valve there before?
I thought there was a defect in the bag.
Yeah, and here's the thing.
You want to be a little bit puffy.
You don't want a vacuum sealed bag because good beans are actually letting off a bit of air.
You don't want vacuum sealed?
No, you want a bag that looks like this.
And what about storing it in the freezer, the fridge?
Okay, fridge is a really bad idea.
Coffee can absorb the flavors of other stuff in the fridge, so you do not want your morning cup.
Tasting like last night's curry chicken.
And freezing also doesn't work?
Freezer's also a bad idea.
It can compromise the flavor.
Yeah, you don't want to take that chicken.
So you store it in a...
You want to store it here.
So open it, open this bag, and then put the whole bag in there and seal it and put it in a cool, dark place.
Oh, you keep it in the bag still?
I keep it in the bag because then you don't get that oil on the inside going stale on you.
And keep it out of light.
And it's ready for the brew.
Absolutely.
Wonderful advice.
All right, up next, Mark can help us figure out whether you could be sabotaging your coffee with your favorite creamer.
Very alarming.
Stay with us.
These smells...
Next, are non-dairy creamers undoing all the healthy benefits of coffee?
Mark reveals their shocking ingredient.
A chemical that comes from a sack near a beaver's anus.
Before you take another sip, see what you're really putting into your cup of joe.
Next.
Amazing transformations you have to see to believe.
I've been born again.
See what they did to lose all the weight, and it wasn't surgery.
These stories are motivation that you need.
Then, everyone's talking about flush drinks.
The claim?
Eliminate toxins and fats from your body to give you a flatter stomach in no time.
But are they safe?
Core Team expert Chris Powell put them to the test.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
We are back with our food, truth, coffee investigation, breaking down what's really in your cup of joe.
Now, from the beans to your creamer are some of the most popular non-dairy creamers out there undoing all the healthy benefits of good old-fashioned coffee.
With me is Mark Shaskier, who has looked into the most popular ones that you are using.
First of all, how do you mean a complicated idea of a non-dairy creamer?
Where did this concept arise from?
They've been around a long time.
It goes...
All the way back to 1952, the non-dairy creamer was invented, a convenience food.
These things have an unbelievable shelf life.
But we are presently living in the golden age of non-dairy creamers.
There's more than 30 flavors.
You can get non-dairy creamers that taste like red velvet cake, that taste like cinnamon, coconut, white chocolate macadamia nut.
Here's the important thing.
We're moving from a real food, milk or cream that you put in your coffee, to a foodstuff.
Red velvet cake flavored?
Creamer?
Yeah, in your coffee.
It's unbelievable.
So you spent your whole adult life probably looking at these artificial flavors.
You've published on it.
You're well-respected in it.
Give us a little bit of the history.
What concerns you the most about where we're going with these 30-plus new flavors?
Red velvet cake flavors.
So as I wrote about in my book, The Dorito Effect, my concern about fake flavors is that they fool the body about the nutritional meaning of food.
They taste great in the moment, but what ends up in your stomach and in your body is different and you get confused.
In the case of coffee, we move from this healthy, low-calorie, polyphenol-rich beverage.
You start adding hazelnut or red velvet cake flavoring to it.
You dump in cream.
You dump in sugar.
All of a sudden, you're not drinking coffee.
You're drinking a milkshake with a little bit of coffee in it.
So these flavors, right?
Exactly, having milkshakes, it's a good way of thinking about it.
All you love to get in your morning is your coffee.
The top items are natural flavors.
Yeah, well, we cannot be fooled by that word natural.
All it means in the case of flavoring is that it originally came from nature.
So years ago, they used to use something called beaver caster lure.
This is a chemical that comes from a sack near a beaver's anus.
I'm not making this up.
That's the sack there?
No, those are the sacks.
So they used to...
I thought they were anal glands.
They're not anal glands.
No, but that's kind of the geography we're talking about.
Now, they don't do it anymore so much.
Who would do that to a beaver?
What's the point?
Why would they even think they look there?
Well, it's actually interesting.
The reason why is that the flavor industry is also the same...
Can I taste this?
No, I don't recommend it.
The fact that you want to is...
It tastes like vanilla, but yes.
That's a whole different show here today.
Alright, so the flavor industry...
Is also the perfume industry.
And a lot of these chemicals were used in the perfume industry.
Flavors are aromas.
So that industry makes your perfume smell great.
It also is the same industry putting stuff in your yogurt, your potato chips, your soft drinks.
That's where it all starts.
If you put this in a cake, it would taste like vanilla.
I actually think.
I hate to know where it came from.
But actually, you're not that worried about these.
You're more worried, I think, about this.
Is this what concerns you the most?
Yeah, so...
Partially hydrogenated, hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Also known as trans fats.
We know this stuff isn't good.
So here's where it starts.
It starts with vegetable oil.
But you know the problem with vegetable oil?
It's got a shelf life.
So what do they do?
They partially hydrogenate it like this.
Or they fully hydrogenate it.
Like, look at this.
I mean...
Oh my goodness.
That's just like lard.
Fake lard.
Chemically synthesized lard.
The fat here is so thick it hasn't even come back down again.
Whereas if I did that with the oil...
It's incredibly different.
Immediately back to where it's supposed to be.
So this is the kind of fat we want in our bodies, guys, right?
It's fluidy.
It helps your membranes become flexible and do things like think because most of our brain is fat.
Literally, we're all fatheads.
So think about this.
If you're putting the right kinds of oils in your body, your brain gets to be flexible.
This partially hydrogenated stuff is not very...
It's just now beginning to clear a bit.
This is ridiculous.
And these are fats that don't really exist in nature, so our body just doesn't really know how to handle them, and they end up doing bad things.
But this thing here, I just noticed it says non-dairy, fat-free.
If it's fat-free, how can it have fats?
Okay, let's ponder the zen-like absurdity of this container.
Non-dairy creamer.
Okay, that's a clue that something weird is happening.
But then it says fat-free.
And in fact, if you look in the nutritional panel, you won't see the fat because there's a very little bit in there.
You see it in the ingredients.
And here's how it works.
If you have a very little bit, you don't actually have to list it.
But the problem is, if you put two shots of this in your coffee, and then you have another coffee, you have another coffee, you start to get to a dose of trans fat that could increase your risk for heart disease.
So, speaking of zen-like absurdity of ideas, please explain this to me.
These are these little itty-bitty creamer containers you see everywhere, right?
They're single-serve.
They're in diners and gas stations.
I see them in airplanes all the time.
I don't understand what these are.
How can they last seemingly forever?
I mean, some of these are for my birth date.
And they're still here.
What is this?
How does it work?
So this really comes from milk or cream, and what they do is they ultra-pasteurize it.
They bring it to a really high temperature to kill off all the microorganisms and give it a crazy shelf life.
Nine months.
It's almost a year.
Think about what the shelf life is on real milk or real cream.
Now, that comes at a cost.
You lose your nutrients.
Vitamin C levels go down.
B vitamin levels go down.
It also doesn't taste the same as real milk or cream.
So my advice is if you're stuck in an airplane and this is all they got, okay.
But I think restaurants, diners, and most importantly, in people's homes, use the real thing.
We should be eating real food.
It needs some of that beaver oil.
That's what it needs.
Yeah, give me that beaver oil back.
Grab the beaver oil.
When we come back, what you need to know about those extremely popular coffee pods we're all using.
Stay with us.
Next, whether you drink instant decaf or coffee pods, Mark exposes what is myth and what is truth when it comes to your preferred brews.
I love making coffee the real way.
From caffeine intensity to nutritional value, we filter through all the facts.
That's next.
Thank you.
Thank you.
How about these little coffee pods that are so popular right now?
Those coffee pods?
Here, ponder that for a second.
Take a look at this first question.
I brew coffee using those plastic coffee pods, and I've heard those machines harbor a lot of bacteria.
Is that true?
So Mark's been investigating this.
Coffee pod...
Yeah, so that's the concern that there's bacteria in these machines and It's actually a myth.
Coffee pod machines have as much bacteria as any other coffee-making device.
Your percolator, your French press.
Like anything, you've got to keep them clean.
There are instructions.
When you get them, this is how you keep them clean.
There's even instructional videos on the net.
So I reached out and talked to some of these companies, and what they told me is, don't put milk in it.
Now, you're not supposed to put milk in it, but the way they said it sounds as though they're getting a fair number of calls from people who put milk in it.
So don't put milk in it.
It's a billion-dollar industry.
It's a huge industry.
Coffee purists out there, and you're probably one of them, what do you guys think about these pods versions, these automated versions?
Those machines are machines of convenience.
You get a coffee really quickly, but convenience always comes at a cost.
I don't know any purist who's ever said, hey man, you've got to come check out my coffee pod machine.
These are people talking about the beans they just got from Ivory Coast and how they roasted them.
The bigger problem for me is that they're very wasteful.
There's a lot of these used pods winding up in landfill, and I don't like that.
I love making coffee the real way.
To me, it's a ritual.
I love grinding the beans.
I love the smell of coffee when I open the beans in the morning.
So I'm a traditionalist that way.
She's getting orgasmic about this stuff again.
Next question comes from Facebook.
Here it is.
He said, I heard that instant coffee gives you more caffeine than regular coffee.
Is that true?
I've heard that too.
It's actually a myth.
Now, for a long time, people thought that instant coffee had more because it comes from a different bean, a Robusta bean.
And Robusta beans grow at lower elevations.
And the reason the coffee plant puts caffeine in the bean is it's a natural pesticide.
It wants these critters to stop eating it.
It's a pesticide?
It's a pesticide.
It's there just like heroin is in opium.
These are natural pesticides.
Is that why heroin and opium is a pesticide?
It's a pesticide.
These are called plant secondary compounds, and the plants put them there to make other things go away.
They're bioactive.
That's why they have an effect on us.
So these Robusta beans grow lower down.
They have more caffeine.
So you'd think instant coffee would have more, but it turns out the way you make instant coffee, the way you brew it, you actually don't get all the caffeine.
I guess what you've been teaching me is the amount of time the bean touches the water.
That's the most important.
Yeah, exactly.
And so the way instant coffee is made, it just doesn't turn out that way.
Let's take a look at the final question.
I heard decaf coffee doesn't have the same health benefits of regular coffee.
Is that true?
That one I'll take is actually a myth.
The nutritional value of decaf coffee is almost identical to regular coffee, aside from that little caffeine content that you might be losing.
All the other health benefits come from the antioxidants anyway, so not a big deal.
You just don't get the caffeine kick, which is, I think, a good thing for me anyway.
Mark, love having you here as always.
Thank you.
We'll be right back.
Next, it's the latest trend hitting your grocery stores.
Protein-boosted foods.
I've heard that protein-rich foods will keep you fuller longer.
Are these fortified products good for your health or just a scam?
The answer may surprise you.
Elizabeth Leamy investigates.
Next.
Amazing transformations you have to see to believe.
I'm still buying a billion dollars.
See what they did to lose all the weight.
Then, flush drinks.
Are they safe?
Do they work?
All noise.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Our Food Truth Hour continues with a new trend that is stocking up your grocery store.
Protein-boosted foods.
Just walk down any aisle, any aisle, and you'll find protein-boosted milk, cereal, eggs, pretzels, cookies, even ice cream.
But are these fortified foods good for your health, or are they just a scam?
I sent an investigative reporter and one of my core team members, Elizabeth Leamy, to find out.
Protein.
Protein.
I want protein.
Protein makes me feel stronger.
I need protein for my brain.
Protein keeps me thin.
America is in the midst of a protein explosion.
It started with protein powder for bodybuilders.
That led to protein bars, the favorite of everyday athletes.
And now today, protein is pumped into just about everything.
Bread.
Chips.
Oatmeal, yogurt, peanut butter.
There are even protein-fortified cookies.
The process of fortifying foods with nutrients like iodine in salt or vitamin D in milk is nothing new.
But protein-boosting is.
Sales are skyrocketing as the food industry promotes the potential health benefits of added protein.
But are protein-boosted foods really a smart choice?
The answer might surprise you.
Elizabeth Vini joins us, so where does demand for these high-protein-boosive foods come from?
Oh, of course it started with the high-protein diets, because weight loss is like the holy grail to food marketers.
So when consumers found out they might be able to lose weight by adding protein, marketers gave them protein in spades.
We've seen even more obsessive protein than I would have expected.
I get that, you know, regular diets that replace sugar with protein make sense, but why the focus on adding protein to our foods?
It all goes back to the idea of losing weight, but also adding lean muscle.
And as you well know, there are some protective qualities to good natural protein against heart disease and diabetes.
So the question is, do we really need more protein in everyday foods?
I'm going to ask the audience.
Don't go anywhere.
Who wants to start us off?
Why protein?
You're a protein buyer of food.
Let me show you a show of hands.
Who buys foods that have extra protein in them?
Just reflexively.
Most of the audience.
What's your first name?
Jeanette.
And why do you do it?
I have two little girls, and I think of it as a way to add extra protein into their diet, so I am totally guilty of buying the cereal that says extra protein.
Yeah, and how about you?
So, yeah, I'm super busy, and I'm actually trying to lose weight, and I've heard that protein-rich foods will keep you fuller longer, so I always find myself buying things like energy bars and those healthy shakes that say they have protein.
That's Elizabeth's point.
You agree?
Sounds like a good idea to us.
From vegetable sources, right?
Lentils have it.
Beans have it.
There are lots of good...
Cows grow muscles and they don't eat any meat.
Right.
And there are lots of animal sources for proteins.
Meat, eggs, dairy.
But let me show you how the extra protein actually gets added in the foods where it's not normally present.
So take a protein-boosted milk as an example.
So milk, of course, comes from the cows.
They're milking their cows.
And milk has five components naturally.
It's supposed to have water, a little bit of that, right?
It's supposed to have vitamins, minerals, lactose, and protein, right?
It's got all this stuff, and notice it's divided in the bottle, right?
Not perfectly equally, but you're supposed to have the right amount of each for it to truly be milk.
Each component looks different.
And we have the ability now to change what's in our milk.
We can, for example, say, you know what, you're lactose intolerant.
Get rid of that.
You don't want that in there.
That sounds like a pretty good idea.
Or maybe you don't want the extra fat in the milk because you don't want to gain weight.
But the thought that fat in the milk bottle might cause fat in your hips, you get rid of that.
So maybe in place of those, you might put more protein in there, right?
You add protein because it's better than the fat and you don't want the lactose anyway.
In fact, you can replace everything else with a protein too.
And the bottle, therefore, is different.
It has different amounts of what naturally would have been in there.
But to see what this looks like in real life, in the real world, I sent Elizabeth Leamy to find out what goes into adding protein to your food.
We know there are more and more protein-enhanced foods coming to market every day, but what goes into them?
Take these protein-packed chocolate chip cookies.
I came here to the Protein Bakery to find out how they're made.
Stephen Lincoln started making protein-enhanced cookies in 1999. No one was doing this back in that day.
I had lost 82 pounds by eating more protein, eating more vegetables, but I still wanted a cookie.
I still had a sweet tooth.
I want it to be grandma's cookie mixed with the healthiest, most balanced.
The ingredients in Stephen's cookies are similar to grandma's, with one exception.
We add our secret ingredient, which is whey protein.
Which comes from milk?
Yeah, exactly.
It's what's left over when they make cheese, actually.
And why did you choose whey protein?
Well, we found in our research that whey protein is the most easily absorbed in your body, and it really helps maintain your lean body mass.
But just to be clear, even though you're saying it has this whey protein, you're not saying this is a No, we are not a meal replacement.
We are not a chicken breast and broccoli.
We are a cookie, a brownie, and a blondie.
Can I try one of these treats?
Please, I've been waiting for this.
All right.
Stephen produces a carefully crafted artisanal product.
But what about the mass-produced protein-boosted products you see on grocery store shelves?
What goes into those?
And do you get the same nutritional benefit?
To find out, I've come here to the Good Housekeeping Institute.
Jackie London is a registered dietitian and the Institute's nutrition director.
She sees both pros and cons to boosting foods with proteins like whey.
The pros are that when you add whey to any type of food, you are adding a source of protein.
So you are getting the added benefit of satiety.
It will help you stay fuller longer.
On the con side, you know, you're not eating the full natural food in its most natural form.
So it does become a processed food.
And then we wind up using all of these other additives and added sugar in particular, which makes it a less healthy food.
The goal being, eat as close to nature as possible.
But if you do want more protein, more naturally, Jackie has some suggestions.
For a smoothie, you can start with seeds.
Chia seeds are a great way to do this.
Chia seeds.
Chia seeds.
These little guys right here.
And then, of course, you know, if you're baking brownies, trade in chickpea flour for your regular all-purpose flour.
Then you've got the added bonus of the fiber, the protein, and the antioxidant and mineral content as you do from the natural food.
But how do they taste?
These are delicious.
All right.
I will give it a try.
How do they taste?
All right.
The garbanzo bean brownies were...
They weren't bad, but I felt like they could use some perfecting, I admit.
Let me tell you though, those protein bakery cookies were outstanding and they did keep me full.
Delicious and filling.
Well, that's why he's still in business.
But let's go through how we add protein to our diet.
There are a couple different ways.
Which is the best?
Okay.
Well, as you saw there, the healthiest way is to add real, whole plant proteins like nuts and beans to your food.
Tuck them in there as an extra protein source.
Next choice would be protein concentrates.
Things like whey concentrate, soy concentrate.
Alright, when we come back, you really need all this extra protein to start with.
Stay with us.
Next, they claim to be healthier, but are high protein boosted foods really worth your We put some of your everyday favorites to the test.
13 times more sugar.
13 times.
And how much protein do you actually need?
Next.
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So, big question.
Are protein-boosted foods really healthier, or is this a scam to get your money?
Consumer reporter Elizabeth Leamy looked into this.
So thanks to that question, we first got to figure out how much protein we actually need in our bodies every day.
Right, so the minimum recommendation for men is 56 grams a day, for women, 46 grams.
But we get most, if not all of that, from our regular daily diets.
Let's go through what an average viewer of our show, because you guys eat so darn well, would normally get.
I'm going to walk you through a typical day.
This is for me, but I think it parallels a lot of you.
So for breakfast, I always have that Greek yogurt.
That actually has 12 grams of protein.
It's one of the reasons I like it.
For lunch, you may have a turkey sandwich, for example, 28 grams of protein.
And then if you love snacks, I do too.
Almonds, a handful of them is 20 grams of protein.
That's why they're so good for you.
Keep up with the math here, guys, because you're already way over those minimums that Elizabeth gave us.
And then for dinner, let's just say you have a grilled chicken and veggies because you've been really good today, 43 grams of protein more.
So just with your basic food intake, that's over 100 grams of protein.
So you already have enough.
So that's actually not the catch here.
The bigger issue is when you add the protein, what else do you add?
So bring us through some examples.
Okay, let's do that.
Yeah, because the thing with these protein foods is it's all about the processing, the isolate itself, but also whether they've got a bunch of other junk to make them taste decent.
So let's do some comparisons here.
So take skim milk, right?
We all think it's good for you anyway.
This glass of skim milk has 8 grams, 8 grams of protein, and 12 grams of sugar.
So what about the protein-boosted equivalent of skim milk?
Okay, well here we go.
11 grams of protein, so a little bit more, but 16 grams of sugar.
And look at this example.
This is cereal, right?
Three grams of protein, one gram of sugar.
Typical cereal that a lot of folks are eating.
Now, if you take that cereal, which is already a pretty reasonable ratio, and you boost the protein, what happens?
Well, first of all, you can see the difference with your eyes because they've boosted the protein up to six grams, but they've got 13 times more sugar.
13 times.
So why do you think they have to add sugar anyway?
Why can't they just add protein by itself?
When you pack it full of that much protein, it starts to not taste good.
It's bad.
So they add all these other things to mask the taste.
And what about these protein-enhanced ice cream bars I'm seeing all over the darn place?
This thing has only 80 calories, which is why you all love it, 7 grams of protein, and only 5 grams of sugar.
So what's so bad about that?
Well, again, we're talking additives.
In addition to the normal sugar, there's sugar alcohol erythritol.
Thank you.
I was able to say that.
Well done.
Thank you very much.
Yes.
Give her a hand.
That is an artificial sweetener.
I know you're not a fan of those, and this particular one can cause bloating, so yuck.
There's already a bite missing out of this, by the way.
That was not me.
It was melting.
Yeah, I don't know.
It does taste pretty good, but it doesn't taste like a real old-fashioned fudge bar.
That's sort of the big takeaway for me.
I've tasted all these things, and I keep looking for the perfect solution.
I think everyone, the takeaway message is, remember, you never need to alter food that's already healthy to make it more healthy.
It's already just fine the way it is.
And you can't make unhealthy food healthier just by adding extra protein.
So be careful about these little, these little mind games you will play with.
We'll be right back.
Coming up next, our fake blueberries hiding in your food.
We take a look at what's really inside your favorite muffins, cereals, and yogurts.
Where it turns out, those blueberries may not be blueberries after all.
So what are they?
What we uncover will surprise you.
Next.
Amazing transformations you have to see to believe.
I feel like a billion dollars.
See what they did to lose all the weight.
Then, flush drinks.
Are they safe?
And do they work?
All noise.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Next in our Food Truth Hour, you know these teeny little blueberry pieces dotting your favorite muffin?
It's in your cereals, your granola bars, your yogurts.
Well, it turns out those blueberries may not be blueberries after all.
A little scary, isn't it?
So what are they?
I've asked registered dietitian Ashley Kopp to join us to help clear up the confusion.
So what are they?
They look like they're blueberries.
Yeah, I mean, the only thing that you're seeing is the blue.
So it's their blueberry.
You've got coloring.
You've got corn syrup.
You've got sugar.
Go on.
Let's taste it.
I remember this back to my childhood.
It's like sticking your finger in just a bowl of sugar that's got color in there.
And even the way it dissolves, I mean, there's...
It's a candy bar.
Exactly.
It's a Jell-O, but a solidified one.
Yeah, before you make the Jell-O, like the powder.
You know, or cool, like any of the powdered beverages, that kind of thing.
We spend so much time on this show, getting people to eat real food.
Blueberries is the hero of the show.
The best, right, the superfood.
So it really bothers me when they're putting fake stuff in there.
So how did all this junk get into our food supply?
Yeah, and you know, I worked in advertising years ago, and so it was...
Because one of the things, the lesson that I learned is on the front of the package, it's the story that you want to hear.
They're going to tell you exactly what you want.
So you think it's a blueberry as a superfood, we're going to tell you have a blueberry.
But you go onto the back and you read the label and you start to see where the problem is.
Alright, so let's take an example here.
We actually give you a couple blueberry product labels.
This one says blueberry bits.
Yeah.
Those are bits of blueberries, right?
No.
So that's what we've got going on here.
Even though it says blueberry bits.
Exactly, exactly.
And I mean, it just, it gets me so frustrated as a dietician.
It's the exact same thing.
You know, you can even see pictures of blueberries on the front, and it's blueberry bits, and it's not.
The blueberry bits are what we're talking about here.
And, you know, so it can be blueberry flavoring.
It can be an artificial flavoring.
They may have used a real blueberry flavoring, but then they're mixing it with sugar or corn syrup.
So that one is my bad, because as a consumer, you know, I feel that I've been misled.
But this one, really, I get mad about.
This is a label that doesn't mention I mentioned blueberries on it.
There's no blueberries in this label.
It just has coloring numbers.
Yes, yeah.
Blue Lake number, 40 number, you know, whatever the number is.
Yeah, so literally the ingredient is Blue Lake.
I mean, it's astounding to me that that front and back can happen.
So if you get faked out by a label that has no blueberries mentioned in it, that's your fault.
Yeah, exactly.
Honestly, I get upset about the blueberry bit part, but this part we should be smart about.
So how is it?
Well, what's the purpose of replacing good old-fashioned blueberries with these synthetic little nodules or bits?
Well, the first part of it is that it's cheap, right?
So we're creating cheap food.
We don't want that.
That's not healthful for us.
The second part is actually an interesting one.
When you look at something like a flake cereal or you think of a pancake mix or something like that, the actual grain or the flake, it needs to not have the water.
So real blueberries have juice in it.
So in order to not, so it would be an issue, you would have that moisture and it would be ruining your cereal.
So net-net, that's, you know, it's going to be a, it's a cheap choice, but it's also an easier processing choice.
So we just taught you how to tell the difference, right, between these synthetic little bits here and real blueberries.
But could you tell the difference with your taste buds?
Can you just look at a bun and tell if it's different?
So we brought two buns here.
I'm not going to warn the audience.
One of these has real blueberries in it.
The other is an imposter.
So I'm just going to help them a little bit.
I'm going to cut into this.
So this is one.
And just look at the muffin.
I wonder if you can tell the difference.
I don't know.
I'm going to find out.
I'm told so little now these days on the show.
All right.
So you see the difference in here, right?
So what I'm going to do is leave these here so you can observe them.
And I'm going to taste test this with the audience.
You grab those.
All I'm asking you to do is to taste these things.
And then come back to this with an honest opinion.
Who's a good taste?
Do you have good taste buds?
Who wants to taste?
You feel lucky?
Give them the same.
Now, go back and forth.
All right.
I'm going to come back and quiz you all now.
Here.
You pass those around, but you don't know if they're good for you, so don't give them to too many friends.
Yeah.
All right.
Now, you've all tasted them back here.
Come on back over here.
Let's just see what the audience thinks.
So, you've been the first tester of all.
What do you think?
Artificial.
Which one?
You tasted both of them.
I tasted the first one.
Oh, you only tasted the first one.
So, the first one you thought.
The one that...
This is what I tasted.
Oh, you tasted whose?
Now they're twitching on me.
No, no.
How can I possibly tell...
Ashley, what kind of help are you?
This woman tasted yours.
This woman tasted mine.
Right.
Yes.
Oh, that's not...
No, hold a second.
Give me...
Where's the plate?
Oh, now you've finished all the blueberries.
Ashley, hold this.
God, Ashley, Ashley, do one thing to help me.
You think it's real?
Let's just do this again.
You don't think it's real.
Did you taste this one?
No, she ate...
Okay.
All right.
She doesn't think that's real.
No, just bite into that.
And you bite into this.
All right.
Now, the first one was fake or real?
Fake.
And this one is?
Real.
And how can you tell the difference?
It has more moisture, I think.
It's hard to tell.
They're actually both fake.
You got both the fake ones.
How about you?
I thought this was real.
That's real.
Yeah.
It's more confusing than it seems.
But let me just show something to you.
Put them together.
Hold them together.
You notice that this one actually has real big berries in it?
Yeah.
And these are all small little itty bitty things?
The small little pieces are going to be the bacon bits.
You might as well be the blueberry bits.
And I just want you to pay attention to that little clue because these manufacturers know how to make stuff that tastes real to you.
It's not that easy to tell them apart.
But your eyes can help you a lot even if your taste buds have been fooled.
I don't know if they really actually taste real.
I think what has happened is we've accustomed our mouths to thinking that blueberry flavor is what the real flavor is.
And that the berries that we have at home, we think, oh, that's just a different blueberry flavor.
See how Ashley tricked you guys?
Yeah.
So she's going to stick around when we come back.
She has the tips you need to know before you buy another blueberry food.
Stay here.
Congratulations to Dr. Oz, winner of the 2016 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
Boshed surgeries.
Her tummy tuck left a gaping hole in her stomach.
It was like the size of a softball.
Plus, he's the plastic surgeon who plasters procedures all over social media.
Do you ever feel that it might exploit the privacy of your patients?
All new Oz.
Are you addicted to fame?
That's coming up on Wednesday.
We are back with dietitian Ashley Kopp uncovering the truth behind the fake berries in your food.
So what's an inexpensive way to get these fruits that we should be getting anyway into our diet?
Yeah, so it's totally awesome to want to get blueberry flavor in.
And so what I recommend is actually getting blueberry flavor from blueberries because then you get the nutrition also.
Radical.
Yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, it's astounding.
And the easy part is...
Just to be clear, so you get the fiber.
Yeah, antioxidants.
You know, we talk about blueberries being a superfood for a real reason.
They're actually naturally low in sugar, so they shouldn't be that high added sugar.
And then they're also going to give you the antioxidants that are so good for heart health, for skin, for, you know, healthy aging, all of that, as well as you are going to get some fiber in it.
Yeah, exactly.
All right, so what's your little secret?
So here I just did frozen.
Frozen's so great, because the other thing is sometimes it's hard to find blueberries available.
And so just take the frozen, and then there are a couple of options.
One is, as the frozen melts, you get that juice.
So sometimes people will say to me, I don't know if frozen tastes as sweet.
It totally tastes as sweet.
Just let them, you know, keep that juice.
You don't have to strain that juice off.
And you can do that, and then you can add that to your yogurt.
You could add that to your plain cereal, and you're going to get the added health benefit.
It's easier to make your morning smoothies, especially if you make them with ice.
If the berries are already frozen...
Yeah, I actually skip the ice because I feel like the ice dilutes the flavor, and I use the frozen blueberries, and so it's really easy that way.
And then I'll throw in a little bit of spices and, you know, just...
Spices?
It gets so exciting.
Yep, exactly.
Dietitians.
But, you know, it's like, you know, a little dietitian geeky humor.
But one of the fun things is, you know, a lot of what we see in places is that we want this puree, this blueberry puree, right?
So we're saying to ourselves, like, oh, well, what if I'm cooking?
Or what can I do?
And somebody asked me a radical question.
How could you get blueberry puree?
You know, what if you need that?
So what you do is you take your blueberries, you stick them in the blender, you hit puree.
And guess what, right?
We've got, there we go, we've got blueberry puree.
And that can be really fun.
You know, if you are baking and you want to incorporate it in, that's a great way to do that.
You know, you can do half apples, half blueberry.
You can get a blueberry applesauce.
I mean, you know, if you're making muffins, you can do it that way.
And then you just don't have to have this fake stuff.
So like net-net, cut to the chase, your blueberries are going to give you all that nutrition.
Blueberry flavor, not only does it not give you nutrition, it's giving you junky ingredients.
So it's a health loop.
And it's true for so many fruits now.
It is, absolutely.
We should take the same mantra.
Yeah.
Read the labels of your food.
We talked about not going for the headache of blueberry bits.
Look for real foods.
They have to write them on there legally.
If the product is touting an ingredient like a fruit, it needs to list that fruit in the ingredient label.
We showed you a label today where there aren't any blueberries on it, right?
If it's in its natural form, that's fantastic, and you don't want it in a concentrated version if you can avoid it.
And you know what I was going to say is the people who are using real blueberries, they are going to brag about it.
So, you know, going back to on the front of the package, made with real blueberries, they are going to tell you that because they're going to that extra effort.
You can believe that, but you still need to flip it on the back and make sure that all the ingredients are good for you.
All right, everybody.
Remember, happy and healthy, it starts at home.
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