Dietitian tells people to go easy on mooncakes as Mid-Autumn Festival looms

Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) Looking forward to the Mid-Autumn Festival so you can tuck into mooncakes?

Although traditional Chinese bakery mooncakes have become a must-eat for many people as the Mid-Autumn Festival nears, a Taipei-based dietitian urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to the high fat and calorie content.

In a statement issued recently, Lai Yu-han (賴俞含) -- a dietitian at Taipei Hospital under the Ministry of Health and Welfare -- said that it is good that many people are increasingly aware of how to eat well and look at the nutrition labels on the food they are consuming to boost their health.

"The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day," Lai said. "And do not have them every day."

In particular, Yu said mooncakes can have negative impacts on the health of the elderly and those diagnosed with diabetes due to too much oil and sugar.

Multiple kinds of mooncakes are hitting the stores to welcome the Mid-Autumn Festival, including Cantonese-style, Suzhou-style and Taiwanese-style mooncakes.

According to Yu, a Cantonese mooncake has more layers than others and contains more oil, meaning it is unhealthier.

Yu said that bakers also tend to use a large amount of sugar to make the filling taste better, meaning people are likely to consume lots of calories without noticing.

A regular Cantonese-style white lotus seed paste mooncake made with two yolks contains about 810 calories, dietitians said, adding that people would need to jog around a 400-meter track 33 times to burn them off.

"A better way to eat a mooncake is to cut it into pieces and share it with your friends," Yu said. "Please remember reducing the amount you eat is critical to your health."

Yu said if one chooses to eat a mooncake, he/she should "cut the amount of rice consumed that day by half."

The dietitian recommended "snow skin mooncakes" and "ice skin mooncakes" as healthier options.

These mooncakes are cold with glutinous rice skin and are stored at low temperatures. They contain relatively few calories, Yu noted.

Yu said everyone should monitor their sugar levels when they eat mooncakes to avoid a spike in blood sugar and stay alert to possible poor digestion or gastroenteritis.