- The desserts on The Great British Bake Off TV show may not be as unhealthy as you might think when viewed from a certain perspective.
- The BMJ has published a study of the show’s recipes that finds 74% of the ingredient groups used correspond with a reduced risk of death and disease.
- However, nutritionists say the tongue-in-cheek study lacks a consideration of some important factors and should be taken with a grain of salt.
Just like one last holiday present, The BMJ has published a study suggesting the mouth-watering, decadent desserts presented on The Great British Bake Off (TGBBO) TV series may not be quite as bad for you as you might assume.
The BMJ reports that many of the ingredients the shows bakers use come from food groups that are associated with a reduction in health risks.
This does not apply, of course, to co-host Pru Leith’s notorious taste for alcohol as an ingredient.
The BMJ’s tongue-in-cheek study is an umbrella study that compiles the results of other studies.
The show, for the uninitiated, is a sweet-natured competition between British bakers baking away in a spacious tent erected on the grounds of some very attractive U.K. real estate.
Presented with increasingly complex cooking challenges, they drop off one by one, week after week, until a final winning baker is anointed at a garden party for all the season’s participants and their families. It is surprisingly funny and emotional, and the food is frequently impressive to look at, at least.
Austere, however, is something the food is most definitely not, and it would seem obvious that much of it is the type of thing one’s physician would advise one to steer well clear of.
But, setting aside the study’s long list of limitations, its findings could be used to argue that Christmas bakes are not all bad. While it is timed for the holidays, its findings could apply to treats baked at any time.
The authors of the study analyzed 48 recipes for Christmas desserts baked on the TGBBO as provided on the…
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