Newswise — Nutritious, delicious, and easy to prepare, salads are among the most healthy and versatile foods around. The Association for Dressings & Sauces (ADS), the Atlanta-based trade association of salad dressing and sauce manufacturers and suppliers to the industry, welcomes May as National Salad Month and encourages creativity when incorporating a salad into your healthy eating regimen.
So, how many types of salads are there? The possibilities are as limitless as the imagination, but to name a few of the more well-known varieties... there's veggie salad, tossed salad, pasta salad, bean salad, seafood salad, chicken salad, ham salad, steak salad, egg salad, potato salad, layered salad and many more.
It's a well-known fact that salads are good for you - but so is salad dressing. Research has shown that those who eat salads, raw vegetables and salad dressing have considerably higher levels of vitamins C, E, B6 and folic acid, all key nutrients in promoting a healthy immune system. And, many salad dressings provide an essential fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid, which helps protect women against fatal heart attacks, as well as the ever-important Vitamin E, which offers a wealth of benefits to the body. Research has also shown that eating salad vegetables with some added fat, such as full-fat salad dressings, promotes the absorption of lycopene, alpha- and beta-carotenes, all of which aid in the fight against cancer and heart disease. Even better, salad dressings are and have always been trans fat free.
Of course, some very popular salads, such as seafood salad, potato salad, and various meat salads call for mayonnaise. Guess what? Also good for you! Mayonnaise also contains Vitamin E, which may protect postmenopausal women against strokes and heart disease. Additionally, mayonnaise does not contain trans fat per labeled serving and is made with heart-healthy oils. Its omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce sudden death from heart attacks.
About National Salad MonthADS launched National Salad Month in May of 1992, in response to a 1991 Gallup Poll that revealed that three out of four people eat a tossed salad at least every other day. A survey conducted in 2000 showed that nearly 85 percent of adults say they eat a salad at least once a week. And nine out of ten people, according to both polls, agreed that salads taste better with salad dressing.
About ADSADS is an international trade association representing the manufacturers of salad dressings and condiment sauces and the suppliers to the industry. Visit us on the web at www.saladaday.org and www.dressings-sauces.org to learn more about the nutritional benefits of salads and salad dressings, and to obtain tasty recipes as well as a copy of the brochure, "The Good News About Salad Dressings and Sauces."
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