Snyder's of Hanover EatSmart Veggie Crisps promise "the garden fresh goodness of real potatoes, tomatoes and spinach." Nature's Promise Natural Vegetable Sticks claim to be made with "fresh garden vegetables."

But the main ingredient in those and most other veggie chips is potato or corn flour, plus a little vegetable powder or puree. And their labels confirm that they provide little except calories, fat, and salt. Here's a guide to what's in the chips, based on 13 common products--including the few that offer some modest advantages.

Vitamins A and C. Converting whole vegetables to powder or puree and frying them destroy much of the nutrients--and there's usually not much powder or puree in veggie chips anyway. Indeed, most of them contain zero vitamin A and C, even though the original vegetables are good sources of those vitamins. The main exception: Terra chips provide a modicum of vitamin A and C, since they're made from vegetable slices. (Potato chips, also made from slices, are a moderately good source of vitamin C.)

Calcium and iron. Tortilla and other corn chips are generally the only ones with any calcium. All the chips in our table contain just a smidgen of iron.

Calories, fat, and sodium. Most veggie chips and sticks we found contain more sodium, nearly as many calories, and just a little less fat than standard potato chips.

Fiber. Terra offers a hefty 3 grams per serving, and a few others have 2 grams.

WHAT TO DO Ignore claims that typical veggie chips are superior to regular chips. For somewhat fewer calories and substantially less fat than regular chips, choose baked chips or Robert's American Gourmet veggie chips. For more nutrients and fiber, consider Terra chips. For reduced sodium, choose salt-free chips, Terra chips, or those in our table containing 110 milligrams or less.

This article first appeared in the January 2007 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.