Answer to the Trivia Question

We had four people answer our trivia question. One person tried to guess what the beverages were, while three people took a chance and guessed which beverage was healthier and why. All three had very similar answers:

"...I really have no clue when it comes to nutrition labels, but would guess B is healthier because it has no sodium and does have some protein. Carbs and sugars are a wash. I couldn't even hazard a guess as to what these are." - Brian Tucker

"I think it is B because even though it is a little higher in calories and same carbs, it has protein in it." - Ami Tucker

"I would guess B would be better (given relatively equal values in calories, carbs and fiber) because B derives at least some of it's caloric intake from protein." - Dawn Gaug

All three win $25 off their next training package. And as it turns out all three were correct (although they would have won either way).

I thought this was a very good answer, although I was anticipating people would pick beverage A for the following reasons:

1) less calories

2) more vitamin A

3) more calcium

Of course if I was asking the question, there had to be a "trick" to it.

In general, I don't like the concept of deciding which food is "healthier." There are too many compounding factors and it really depends on the person eating the food.

But most nutritionists, if forced to give an answer, would use a concept called nutrient density.

Nutrient density is basically a subjective assessment of nutrients per calorie. Using this concept foods like spinach, which have very few calories but high amounts of vitamins and minerals, are considered the "healthiest."

I never really liked this concept because taken to the extreme a multivitamin would be considered a highly nutrient dense food. In addition, certain processed foods are fortified with certain nutrients. Examples include Vitamin D being added to milk or some B vitamins being added to breads and breakfast cereals. This puts natural, whole foods at an immediate disadvantage.

Using the nutrient density concept alone would make someone pick beverage A. But in reality without knowing what the beverages are it is really difficult to answer the question.

But if you knew beverage A was Tang and beverage B was orange juice, you wouldn't even need to look at thenutrition facts, would you?

Only one person ventured a guess as to what the two foods were. Here is his response:

"Awesome trivia game! I love that idea. Do more.

I'm not going to answer the first question since it's clearly a trick but I will try to guess the drinks.

I know that since you wrote the question, the two drinks are almost indistinguishable nutritionally, but one has a good reputation and one has a bad reputation.

So A is orange juice and b is Tang.

I guess OJ because of the calcium. I don't really know where the protein comes from in B because I would expect some fat unless it was a vegetable drink but I couldn't think of one that fits the challenge. Beer wouldn't have the vitamin C... Most vegetable drinks would have more nutrients. Dairy would have some fat. I know it's not obscure because that wouldn't be fair, nor is it supplemented. Soda wouldn't have the vitamin C either.

So I'm going with OJ and tang. Maybe tang has some soy protein as a thickener." - Mike Stoler

Mike is a friend and business partner who has known me for about 20 years and he used psychology as much as nutrition to make his guess. Even so, his answer was very impressive. Too bad he mixed the two drinks up....