Good-For-You Snacking

Corazonas’ cholesterol-reducing potato chips are actually heart healthy.

By
Joanna Cosgrove
Online Editor

When on the receiving end of a high cholesterol diagnosis, most patients wistfully bid adieu to foods like fried chicken, cheeseburgers and French fries in favor of more heart healthy fare. Potato chips also fall onto the forbidden foods list – but for every rule there’s typically an exception. Such is the case for a new line of potato chips from Los Angeles, CA-based Corazonas Foods Inc.

As more Americans move into the shadow of the rising incidence of heart disease and obesity rates, healthy snacks are a welcome alternative to fat laden options. Corazonas Heart-Healthy Potato Chips employ a patented technology that infuses plant sterols into the chips. According to the company, the product is the first and only potato chip clinically proven to reduce low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, also known as bad cholesterol, by up to15%. The health benefit is complemented by classic potato chip taste and crunch, despite containing 40% less fat than regular potato chips.

Joe Beauprez, vice president of marketing at Corazonas, noted that the inspiration to create these heart-healthy chips was very personal in nature. “Everyone here at Corazonas has been personally touched by heart disease - none more so than our founder, Ramona Cappello who lost her father and both grandfathers to heart disease,” he said. Interestingly, “Corazonas” is the Spanish word for “heart.”

“In the past, people had to make compromises if they wanted to eat heart-healthy - great taste usually meant unhealthy and healthy meant poor taste,” he continued. “By creating Corazonas Heart Healthy Chips, we’ve created snacking without compromise - great tasting snacks that are truly good for your heart.”

The potato chip line is available in five world-inspired flavors:Slightly Salted, Mediterranean Garlic & Herb, Italiano Four Cheese, Pacific Rim BBQ and Spicy Rio Habanero. The all-natural potato chips have no trans fat and retail for approximately $2.99 for a six-ounce package.

In development for more than a year before launching earlier this month, the products are appearing in leading supermarkets, natural foods retailers and club stores under the tag line, “Snack To Your Heart's Content.” The timing of the launch coincides with American Heart Health Month, which is observed each February. Exactly how Corazonas created a potato chip that’s so heart healthy is largely proprietary and protected by the company’s Intellectual Property rights. However, Mr. Beauprez would say that the chips have 40% less fat relative to regular potato chips because of a proprietary frying process. “We also use heart-healthy canola oil and a slightly thicker cut chip,” he added. “All these combine for a lower fat, healthier chip.”

A potato chip fried in less artery-clogging canola oil that delivered zero trans fat would be great in and of itself, but Corazonas took its chips one step further into an even healthier realm. “Perhaps the most remarkable heart-healthy aspect of our chips is that they have been proven to lower cholesterol due to the inclusion of plant sterols,” said Mr. Beauprez. “We use CardioAid plant sterols from ADM [and] we have a proprietary process during the production of the chips that ensures optimum delivery of sterols.”

Experts agree that nutrition, in partnership with physical activity, is an important tool in fighting and preventing heart disease. The Heart Healthy Chips are not Corazonas’ first foray into this market niche. The addition of the potato chip line expands the company’s growing list of heart-healthy snack products which currently includes Corazonas Heart-Healthy Tortilla Chips in six flavors: Original, Salsa Picante, Jalapeno Jack, Margarita Lime, Cilantro Salsa Fresca and Baja Bean Dip. With visible, whole oats, Corazonas’ Heart-Healthy Tortilla Chips not only lower cholesterol, but also are also a good source of fiber.