Édouard Courot, Doctor of Pharmacy and micro-nutritionist with a passion for endurance sports, reveals the 8 key points to understanding the matrix effect and explains how to use it wisely to optimise your health and performance!
"At Baouw, we do our utmost to respect this matrix effect by using the most raw ingredients possible!
CLÉ #1 : COMPRENDRE QUE L’ALIMENT N’EST PAS QU’UNE SOMME DE NUTRIMENTS...
‘The matrix effect means considering that food is not just a sum of nutrients that act independently. In reality, food is a global entity in which the nutrients interact and work together. In other words, the matrix effect means considering that the nutritional value of food is not defined solely by the exhaustive list of nutrients that make it up, but rather by the interactions that exist between them’. ‘The matrix effect means considering that food is not just a sum of nutrients that act independently.
KEY #2: STOP COMPARING TWO FOODS BY READING THEIR LABELS.
‘It's not a new concept, but the matrix effect is becoming increasingly important in discussions about food. But why? Because the matrix effect is the answer to an all-too-frequent mistake: comparing foods on the basis of their nutritional composition. In practical terms, if you've ever compared two foods by reading their labels - the ones that list the nutrients they contain - then I'm sorry to say that you've made this mistake too! Depending on how the nutrients within them interact with each other, these two foods will have a totally different effect on the body... ’ ‘If you've ever compared two foods by reading their labels, you've made a mistake!
An example of the matrix in action?
There's a world of difference between a simple squeezed orange juice and that same orange in its raw state. Because the juice is processed, it lacks the fruit's natural fibres, which no longer regulate digestion. The sugar content (even if natural) of the orange is no longer regulated. This juice is therefore a source of blood sugar spikes.
KEY #3: THINK OF EACH FOOD AS A ‘FOOTBALL TEAM’!
‘To better understand the matrix effect, I often use a rather equivocal metaphor: I compare food to a football team! In a football team, each player has his own qualities and faults. However, the value of the team is not the sum of the players' skills. It's not enough to accumulate talent to win titles. It's better to combine complementary profiles. Because it is the way in which the players interact with each other that opens up the prospect of great victories. These interactions are defined by the tactical structure of the coach, the philosophy of play... The same goes for food!
KEY #4: BECOME AWARE OF THE BIOAVAILABILITY OF NUTRIENTS.
‘Bioavailability is an essential parameter in nutrition. It refers to the quantity of nutrients that actually reach the bloodstream in relation to that present in the food ingested. The higher the bioavailability of a nutrient, the greater the quantity of nutrients absorbed.
The matrix of a food largely determines the bioavailability of the nutrients it contains. And this bioavailability, that of a natural raw food, is generally conducive to good health. Man and his metabolism have evolved in close contact with nature and the foods it provides. These raw foods have a matrix that nature has skilfully developed, and they have optimal health potential, in line with human metabolism.
Refining and industrial processes eliminate some of the micronutrients and have an impact on nutrient intake.
As a result, two foods with a similar nutritional composition, or nutrients in common, will not necessarily have the same bioavailability and therefore not the same effect on the body due to a matrix effect specific to each of these two foods, which are different overall. For example, the carbohydrates in an ultra-processed food will be much more bio-available (with the deleterious consequences that go with it) than the same carbohydrates in a whole, healthy food’.
KEY #5: AVOID INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS THAT DESTROY THE MATRIX EFFECT!
‘In ultra-processed products, the food matrix is completely destructured, not to say exploded! As a result, the body no longer has to make any effort to assimilate calories. The natural fibres that normally slow down digestion are no longer needed, because they are destroyed by industrial processes. As a result, calories are extremely bio-available, meaning that they are absorbed at an optimal rate, which is harmful to the body: huge waves of sugar, not to say ‘tsunamis’, are unleashed on your metabolism without any barriers. To make things easier to understand, I can give you a simple example: if we compare an industrial product and a natural product, both with a nutritional value of 100 kcal, the former will deliver these 100 kcal to the body very quickly, with no satiety effect, whereas the unprocessed product will only deliver 60 or 70 kcal, because the sugars are less bio-available, while giving the body the sensation of being full, thanks to the fibre!
"In ultra-processed products, the food matrix is completely unstructured, not to say exploded!
KEY #6: RESPECT THE MATRIX EFFECT TO REDUCE HUNGER!
‘Preserving the matrix effect of the food you eat is good for your health in two ways! Firstly, it saves the natural fibres that reduce the bioavailability of sugars and other calories. Secondly, as these fibres require chewing, they will generate a phenomenon of satiety, i.e. reduce the sensation of hunger, by the nervous messages sent thanks to the contribution of your jaw. Who hasn't experienced sinking into a packet of ultra-processed cakes with the feeling that you can't stop eating them? And the reason? The complete lack of satiety’.
‘Who hasn't experienced sinking into a packet of ultra-processed cakes with the feeling of not being able to stop eating them?’
KEY #7: NEVER MISS OUT ON THE MICRONUTRIENTS YOU NEED!
‘Micronutrients, because of their preserved matrix effect, have a real health benefit that results from the food in its entirety rather than the sum of the same micronutrients taken separately and added through industrial food processing’.
KEY #8: BE VIGILANT ABOUT SPORTS NUTRITION, WHICH ALL TOO OFTEN NEGLECTS THE MATRIX EFFECT...
‘For an endurance effort, foods with high carbohydrate bioavailability can be beneficial from time to time during the effort or recovery period for their energy impact. Simply, for reasons of digestive tolerance and speed, it may be a good idea to alternate with whole foods, chews or compotes, and that, overall, contributes to optimal nutrition during exercise (particularly in long endurance sports, or even ultra-endurance sports, where you can become disgusted over time if you don't vary your sources of supply sufficiently).’
ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF THE MATRIX EFFECT
- "Encourage the consumption of products that are as raw and unprocessed as possible! This ensures that you benefit from their natural matrix’.
- "Start from the premise that nature is well made! We'll never do better than nature in terms of the nutritional value of food. All the processing we do will only degrade what nature initially endowed us with.
- "Separate the processed from the ultra-processed! There's a world of difference between a fruit compote whose only processing is cooking and an industrial fruit juice stripped of its fibre and therefore a source of blood sugar spikes.
« Favoriser la consommation de produits les plus bruts et les moins transformés possibles ! C’est l’assurance de bénéficier de leur matrice naturelle. »
THE MATRIX EFFECT AT BAOUW
"We can be perfected, but we have to be as diligent and conscientious as possible!
That's how Fanny Hottegindre, Baouw Product Manager, describes the way we see the matrix effect: as a fundamental pillar that we have to respect, while being aware that the practical constraints of our energy bars and compotes still give us room for improvement to ensure that it is 100% preserved!
So here's how the matrix effect lives on in Baouw products and our day-to-day concerns:
1/ ‘First of all, our products are as raw as possible. With as little processing as possible. No additives. Gluten-free. We choose raw materials with optimum health potential’.
2/ ‘We avoid unnecessary additives that destroy the naturalness of the food and cancel out the matrix effect’.
3/ 'In the design of our organic energy bars, the food is deliberately not cooked. They are kneaded, with a light date purée as a binder, until they fragment and come together to form a homogenous texture, with chunks, to preserve their matrix effect as much as possible’.
