How to tell nutrient-dense food from empty-calorie food?
Two products can have approximately the same number of calories, but the amount of nutrients and vitamins in them may differ greatly. If you compare a portion of baked potato to a portion of plain potato chips with equal calorie content (100 calories), you will find that baked potato contains twice the amount of dietary fiber: baked potato contains 1.61 g of fiber, while chips contain 0.75 g of fiber. In addition, baked potato has four times more vitamin C than chips (13.7 mg of vitamin C in baked potato and 3.4 mg in potato chips). Baked potato is more nutrient dense than plain potato chips. Nutrient-dense food is the opposite of empty-calorie food. Sweets and soft drinks are very high in calories because of added sugars, while their nutrient density is very low. Such energy-dense food is not beneficial to your health.
