1. Cooking Method: Steaming vs. Frying
Looking simply at the cooking method, steaming with water vapor is a much healthier way to reduce calorie and fat intake than deep-frying in oil. A fried donut absorbs oil, making it very high in calories and saturated fat.
2. The Problem with the Contents: High Carb + High Sugar
However, it is difficult to say that a steamed bun is ‘always’ healthier than a donut. From a blood sugar management perspective, jjinppang is also a snack that requires great caution.
– Flour Dough: The outer part of the steamed bun is made from refined white wheat flour, which raises blood sugar quickly.
– A Lump of Sugar, The Red Bean Paste: A tremendous amount of sugar is used to make the ‘red bean paste’ which is the core of the bun. Just like with sweet red bean bread, the main factor for the blood sugar spike from a steamed bun is not the outer bread, but the sweet filling inside.
– Blood Sugar Spike: Ultimately, a steamed bun is a combination of ‘refined carbohydrates (bread)’ and ‘simple sugars (red bean paste),’ which causes a sharp spike in blood sugar upon consumption. Since fried donuts also have flour and sugar as their main ingredients, the negative impact on blood sugar may not be very different between the two.
3. Conclusion
In that it’s not fried, a steamed bun might be slightly better as you avoid saturated fat, but in that it is a ‘sugar bomb’ that spikes blood sugar, both are representative snacks that people with diabetes should avoid. Neither can be called a ‘healthy’ food.
Summary: A ‘jjinppang’ is a healthy cooking method, but its contents—flour dough and a filling full of sugar—cause a sharp rise in blood sugar. From a blood sugar management perspective, it can be just as harmful as a fried donut and should not be mistaken for a healthy snack.
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