What Do Mince Pies Contain?

Have you ever wondered what ingredients go into a shop bought mince pie? If you have ever looked at the long list of ingredients you probably won’t have a clue what a lot of them are. That’s not a good sign. If you were to make mince pies yourself the ingredient list is pretty short and simple. So what are these extra ingredients and how do they affect you? What Do Mince Pies Contain?
Here is an ingredient list for a popular supermarket mince pie. Recipes will vary slightly from brand to brand, but not much.

Ingredients

Mincemeat (49%) [Sugar, Apple Purée, Sultanas, Glucose Syrup, Currants, Humectant (Glycerol), Raisins, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Orange Peel, Maize Starch, Ground Mixed Spice, Lemon Peel, Apricot Purée, Barley Malt Extract, Acetic Acid, Citric Acid, Gelling Agent (Pectin), Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Metabisulphite, Sulphur Dioxide), Flavouring, Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate)], Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Glucose Syrup, Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Butter (Milk) (4%), Sugar, Salt, Raising Agents (Disodium Diphosphate, Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate).

There are a LOT of seriously unhealthy ingredient here. Today I am going to concentrate on 2;

1/ Glucose Syrup

Glucose syrup is a distinct and very heavily processed form of glucose. It helps to preserve and increase the sweetness of foods. It has nearly 4 times the amount of calories and carbs found in sugar.
Basically this is a trick way for manufacturers to use less sugar in their products without affecting the taste. So they can say ‘30% less sugar!!’ or whatever on the packaging. They reality is glucose syrup is even worse for you than the sugar would have been.

1/ Glucose Fructose Syrup

This is a sweetener derived from corn syrup. It adds an unnatural amount of fructose to your diet which will increase your risk of issues such as obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease, diabetes and inflammatory diseases such as gout.

The issue with fructose is that it goes straight into your liver. And triggers the production of triglycerides and cholesterol, potentially leading to high cholesterol levels. High fructose levels can also punch little holes in the lining of your intestines causing a ‘leaky gut.’ This allows bacteria proteins and foreign food proteins into your bloodstream. This is turn makes you gain weight and increases your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Conclusion –What Do Mince Pies Contain?

I’m not having a pop at mince pies here specifically. It’s just because you see them everywhere at this time of year I am focusing on them. But these 2 ingredients are in so many other processed foods so you really need to keep a check on the ingredients lists of products and avoid these 2 nasty ingredients whenever possible.