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In Pursuit of a Healthier Chip

Our All-American potato chip has been around since the 1850s. This popular snack food was originally created in an effort to pacify a customer who consistently complained about soggy French fries.

Today, hundreds of varieties of potato chip are available on grocery store shelves, with sales in excess of $30 billion annually.

As we all search for a healthier chip, it's important to understand that not all chips are created equal. Take a look, for example, at the differences in calories and fat content per serving for these three varieties of tortilla chips:


  • Light (using a fat replacer): 100 calories and 2 grams of fat

  • Baked: 120 calories and 3.5 grams of fat

  • Regular: 140 calories and 8 grams of fat

And besides efforts to make potato chips healthier by baking them and using fat replacers and healthier oils, we've now gone on to manufacturing chips that aren't necessarily made from potatoes. These new alternatives include chips made from soy, oatmeal, and vegetables.

But, again, beware: just because a chip is made from other veggies besides potatoes doesn't make it healthy. A vegetable chip may have as much or more fat than our tortilla example above. In addition, some of these new alternatives may have a taste and flavor that take a little getting used to.