Food Label Headaches

If you are like me, you are a bit lost when you go to the store. All these labels claim so many things, I begin to believe none of them are true. "Made with real juice" is always interesting to me, because they will put that on just about anything fruit flavored, and then on the ingredients, it is one of the last things on the list, usually with artificial flavors and sugar preceding it. My biggest frustration is that I'm lead to believe something is "healthy" or full of some good thing I know I need, but the chemicals and other tricks they use to make it "better" sometimes really make it fattier or more dangerous for the consumer! Anyway, for those who are interested, here are a few tips on current "food label trends" (or if you feel that "ignorance is bliss," feel free to skip this post):

Twelve Tricky Food Labels
When you head to the store, you might be misled by some of the labels on the foods you buy. You think you're getting healthy food, but it's not always true.
February 4th, 2008 @ 8:44am

Registered Dietitian, Melanie Douglass sorts through 12 of the common traps waiting for you in the grocery store.

1. "Natural"
a. If a food has sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, OR more than 4 grams of sugar or 3 grams of fat per serving, then "natural" means nothing. Sugar is natural, lard is natural… and they are a far cry from "healthy".
b. Foods to watch out for: cheese (high in fat), yogurts, beverages, fruits, etc (high in sugar)

2. "Vitamin C-Boost"
a. If a food has more than 500 mg of Vitamin C, then it's not worth the extra money. Your body can only absorb 500 mg at a time. Plus, if you have to drink/consume 200 - 400 calories just to get that vitamin C boost, then it's not worth it. Go for a calorie-free Vitamin C supplement instead.

3. "Yogurt-covered"
a. Yogurt coating is full of saturated fat. An ity-bity 2 tbsp. serving of yogurt-covered raisins packs 7 gram of fat and 6 of those are saturated. Ouch. Don't buy anything yogurt coated.

4. "Dried Fruit"
a. Only buy dried fruit that is soft and made without added sugars. Dried fruit that is rock-hard (like banana chips) is full of saturated fat. In a ¼-cup serving of banana chips, you'll get 7 grams of fat and 6 of those are saturated. Double ouch.

5. "0 gram Trans Fat"
a. Just because a food has 0 grams trans fat doesn't mean it's also low in saturated fat - the other heart-damaging fat. Cookies with 0 grams trans fat are still cookies—packed with sugar, calories and artery clogging saturated fat.

6. "Sparking Water with Natural Flavors"
a. Natural flavors in water-type beverages often means it's sweetened with Acesulfame K or Aspartame—two non-nutritive sweeteners that are far from natural in my book.

7. "98% Fat-free" meats
a. 98% fat-free hot dogs and bologna are often made with "mechanically separated" meats. I'm not a fan of mechanically separated meat because it can contains bits and pieces of spinal cord. Here's a good explanation: i. "Mechanically separated meat is a paste produced by compressing carcasses, much like a used car is crushed into a dense block of metal" (Nutrition Action Healthletter, June 2001)

8. "2% Reduced Fat" flavored milks
a. Just because it's reduced fat doesn't mean it's healthy. Flavored milks are really high in sugar. 10 teaspoons per convenience-store bottle! (That's as much added sugar as you should have in an entire day.)

9. "No Cholesterol"
a. Margarine never had cholesterol in the first place. Just because a margarine or butter spread says "no cholesterol" doesn't mean it's healthy. Look for spreads higher in monounsaturated fats and lower in saturated and trans fat.
10. "with Vitamins & Minerals!"
a. Snacks like Poptarts, that have "7 vitamins and minerals!" often only provide 10% or so of mostly b-vitamins that most people aren't deficient in anyway. It's not much of a help—and certainly not a good reason to eat more sugar or fat.

11. "Full Serving Vegetables!"
a. If you have to drink a beverage laden with extra sugar and 1/3 of your day's sodium (480 mg) just to get a "full serving of vegetables", then that is not a good trade. Regular vegetables have 20 - 60 calories and no added sugar or sodium… unlike most beverages.

12. "Made with Whole Grain"
a. A food needs to have at least 16 grams of "whole grain" on the label in order to make a dent in your whole-grain intake and improve your health. Don't confuse "whole grains" and fiber. 8 grams of whole grain usually only has 1 gram of fiber. Foods like snack crackers and cereals usually have 5 - 10 grams of whole grain per serving. Whoopee. I prefer to shop for foods by fiber content and not the elusive and tricky "whole grains". Look for foods with 3 - 5 grams of fiber per serving.