Are plantain chips actually healthy?

Plantains are a healthy food, but some ways of cooking them make them less healthy. Plantain chips are a tasty snack, but they are also typically fried and contain high levels of salt. From a health standpoint, your best bet is to look for recipes with small amounts of salt, oil, and added sugar. Slice and cook in an air fryer or convection oven for a healthier plantain chip. The resistant starch in green plantains has sparked an interest for its health benefits. Resistant starch is fiber that your body doesn't fully digest, meaning it doesn't spike your blood sugar. Foods like plantains that digest slowly have a low glycemic index (GI). Plantains have a GI in the 40s, making them a good food choice if you have diabetes. Plantains can provide other health benefits like digestive health, diabetes control, blood pressure control, and a healthy immune system.

Plantain chips are a great source of fibre and other nutrients like potassium and sodium, and provide more vitamins A and C than potato chips. Purely Plantain Chips provide 12 percent of your daily vitamin A recommendation and 16 percent of your suggested vitamin C. They also tend to be lower in saturated fat than potato chips, which is a form of unhealthy fat associated with an increased risk of heart and circulatory disease. Plantain chips are also a great source of Omega-6. According to the National Library of Medicine: “...plantains… help boost body immune system, regulate digestion, and are good sources of potassium and vitamins C… that fight against free radical damaging effect in the body and prevent aging and diseases like cancers, heart disease, and diabetes.” Both plantain chips and potato chips provide essential vitamins and minerals and have around the same amount of calories per serving. Both are valid snack options, as long as you’re eating them as part of a balanced diet, especially when you’re on the go. So, it all comes down to personal preference, brand, and cooking method really. If you’re going to eat either, it is worth looking into how they are cooked - like we mentioned before, many standard potato chips are cooked by passing the potatoes along conveyor belts through oil that is kept at a consistently high temperature. Kettle cooking is a much better way of cooking plantains or potato chips - this is how we cook our plantain chips, here at Purely.