Read the packaging: 6 ingredients in biscuits that should be completely avoided

Biscuits are among the most common things Indians buy without thinking twice. They slip into every household, served with chai, tucked into lunchboxes, pulled out during late-night hunger. They come with cheerful promises: “high fibre,” “no added sugar,” “lite.” But when you turn the pack around, the ingredient list often tells a less comforting story. Not all biscuits are equal, and some are worse than they look. Here are six ingredients that should make you put the pack back on the shelf.

If the first ingredient is “maida” or “refined wheat flour,” that biscuit is mostly starch with little fibre. It digests quickly, spikes blood sugar, and leaves you hungry again soon after. Brands may highlight “atta” on the front, but check the order, if whole wheat flour is second or third, it’s a token addition. Biscuits made with ragi, oats or whole wheat keep you fuller and deliver more nutrients.

To get that flaky crunch and long shelf life, many biscuits rely on vanaspati or bakery shortening. These are hydrogenated fats that contain trans fats, strongly linked to heart disease and inflammation. Some labels claim “zero trans fat,” but if “hydrogenated” or “vanaspati” appears in the ingredients, the product still contains it in small amounts. It’s best to avoid it altogether.

Sugar rarely appears just once. Manufacturers break it down into glucose syrup, fructose syrup, invert sugar, maltodextrin or liquid glucose. This keeps “sugar” from topping the list but adds up to the same problem: empty calories, blood sugar spikes, and often more sweetness than you realise. If a pack shows two or three kinds of sugar within the first five ingredients, you know it’s heavily sweetened.

That “butter cookie” may contain no butter at all. Flavouring agents, labelled as “artificial” or “nature identical” are used to mimic real ingredients. Vanilla essence might just be vanillin made in a lab. Fruit-flavoured creams rarely contain actual fruit. Flavours aren’t dangerous in small amounts, but when biscuits taste of essence rather than food, it shows how little of the real ingredient went in.

Long shelf lives come at a cost. Preservatives like sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate keep mould away, while emulsifiers such as mono- and diglycerides hold the texture together. They’re legal and widely used, but they add nothing to your health. If biscuits can sit in a warehouse for a year, it’s because chemicals are doing the work, not freshness. For a daily snack, that’s not a trade-off worth making.

Sweet biscuits aren’t the only ones to watch. Masala crackers, butter biscuits and salted snacks often carry more sodium than chips. Excess salt contributes to high blood pressure and kidney strain. The tricky part? It rarely tastes very salty, so you don’t notice. The nutrition table reveals the truth, anything above 400-450 mg sodium per 100 g is on the higher side.

Start at the ingredient list, not the health claims. The first three ingredients make up most of the biscuit.

If you see any of the six red flags above, especially in the top half of the list, skip the pack.

Prefer biscuits made with whole grains (whole wheat, oats, ragi), real fats (butter, ghee, cold-pressed oils), and minimal additives

Cross-check the nutrition table: per 100 g, aim for ≥6 g fibre, <20 g total sugars, and <450 mg sodium in savoury crackers. If those numbers are missing or high, that’s your answer.

Common marketing traps

“Zero trans fat”: still meaningless if “partially hydrogenated” appears in ingredients.

“Baked, not fried”: can still use hydrogenated fats or TBHQ.

“Made with milk/fruit”: often flavour only; confirm with the ingredient order and percent declaration if given.

“No added sugar”: may contain sweeteners/polyols, check for the names above.