Archive for August, 2011

Nine Outrageous Food Claims That Trap the Unwary

Can you trust the label when you are trying to eat healthy?

Probably not!

1. “Lite” or “light” may refer to nothing more than the color of the product.
2. “This has 50% less fat” or “lower fat” - when you read the fine print, you’ll find it’s often less fat than a similar product rather than the standard version of the same product.
3. “2% milk” might sound good, but it is pretty close to full fat.
4. “Sugar-free” - the product can still containhalf a gram or less of sugar per serving and be classified as sugar-free.

             Sugar comes in many different forms, simple and complex, but companies are only required to list the amount of white sugar in their poducts. For this reason you may find many hidden sugars in processed foods. Examples of hidden sugars are high-fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, cane sugar or any ingredient ending in -ose. 

     5   “Fat-free” - similary, this actually means half gram or less of fat per serving. These products may also be packed  with sugar.

           If your cart is full of  “sugar-free and “fat-free” products you are probably getting lots of unwanted sugar from the fat-free and the fat from the sugar-free.

     6. “Whole-grain” simply means that the product started out as a whole grain. Once it’s processed, all the nutrition and fiber is removed – unless it says 100% whole grain.

     7. “Multi-grain” just means it has more than one grain – but not necessarily enough of any one grain to be of any particular benefit.

     8. Manufacturers may give statements like “whole wheat is good for your heart” - even though there is no whole wheat in there product, this is known as a structure-function claim. The statement refers to the benefits of a certain nutrient not the product.

The front of the label is designed by the company’s marketing department to sell you their product. It is not legal for a company to mislead you but they often do. 

     9. “Natural” the most over used and abused word in food advertisement. There is no law or regulation on the use of the word “natural” on food labels.

Have you come across any outrageous food label claims? Let me know in the comments.