Healthy is now a buzzword, courtesy of the marketers of today. I am a marketer myself and I am glad I have no contribution in making that happen. Rather I wish to contribute in its undoing.
As the supermarket aisles are crowded with health-conscious, wannabe health-conscious and the lazy-health-conscious consumers, marketers have quickly laced their products with these claims that they are good for them and their godforsaken health (and yes I use the word "laced" as in poison, as in a drug, as in an addiction). People now rely on these cues rather than actually reading the Nutritional Information at the back to make their decisions. If they did, they will be surprised and even appalled at how misleading the claims can be.
And this is just the marketing claims side of the story. There is a whole other issue with the lack of awareness among the consumers. I remember sitting in a focus group where I heard the most outrageous interpretation of a cholesterol free claim for a food item. The lady, though young and obviously educated, thought that cholesterol free was calorie free!!!
Therefore I present here a collection of outrageous claims and mundane claims that are grossly misinterpreted most of the time and their explanations:
2. Fat-free mushrooms are good as long as you don't deep fry them! I can't even begin to speak about this bit. Mushrooms are healthy and one should know that. No stupid fat-free claim will make it healthier. Vegetables generally are healthy and contain good fats, good carbs and good protein. Its just how you prepare them that can alter their healthy quotient.
3. 2 gms of Fiber in packaged drinking water? Really? My only question here is, is invisible fiber still fiber? OK anyway my point here is water is a thirst quencher and just leave it as is. Seriously! Don't go for flavored, enriched, fortified or even fiberized versions of water. You are better off with plain simple H20!
4. Sugar-free is not always better! We jump at the chance of anything sugar-free because of the general connotation of how bad sugar is for our body. Diabetes anyone? But how is any sugar-free product better for you? In fact it may actually be worst for you because a. It kicks in some sort of mechanism inside you to crave more sugar (I read this in a study) b. It gives you incentive to eat more because you feel like you are having lesser calories c. It usually still has the rest of the fattening quotient (ex. Sugarfree cookies). So you are better off with the full-sugar variety so you can feel guilty about eating it later and maybe work on that self-control instead!
5. Low-fat is not Fat-free. This I need to stress, and I can't stress it enough!!! We go crazy for all the low fat versions of yogurt, milk, etc etc... What is important is that we should examine how much fat is actually lessened and how much of it is Unsaturated (the good kind). If it is just 2 grams the point is moot, same elaboration as points b and c under #4 above.
6. "100 calories per serving" types of claims. And guess what is the serving size- a tenth of the pack! This is why it is very important that you read the nutritional info to find out details about these!
7. Fat-burning, L-carnitine laced coffee, iced tea, tea, water. OMG it is everywhere. L-carnitine maybe a fatburning compound but do not buy just anything that contains it without checking how much empty calories that sugary-glug in the name of a drink actually has. Stick to proper diet and exercise otherwise as written in the fine prints!
8. "Fortified with 8 essential vitamins" types of claims. This is a really tricky and funny one. We are such suckers for fortified food that we do not dissect this claim to find out which compound actually has all the vitamins. In most cases the wheat flour content actually already contains 7 of those 8 essential vitamins!
9. "Made with Wholewheat". This seems like an innocent claim right. Nothing wrong with it. Well not always. Always check how much wholewheat is actually present. One neat trick I learned in India (which I am not sure everywhere else, need to double check) is that the packaging law requires you to write the ingredients in descending order as per the quantity used. Here you can find if the main ingredient is wholewheat or is it just 10% of the mix.
10. High Fibre- my favourite! As much as I love fiber in my food, not everything that has high fibre is good for you. Please make sure you check all other contents especially the fat and sugar contents to make sure these are not empty calories. Because that there is your enemy. Yes empty calories is your devious frenemy!
The list is endless. I know I am forgetting (partly because I am sleepy and partly because I have an impending deadline hovering over my head) a lot of outrageous claims I have come across over the years, so maybe I shall keep updating or write new posts with actual evidence.
Till then I would want to hear which is the most outrageous health claim you have ever seen or heard?
Notes:
- I have not made up any of the claims above! I have seriously seen 2gm Fiber-drinking water!
- Oh and that fat-free mushroom did not even have a nutritional info chart! Now how do we double check that claim!
- These are based on products available in the Philippines and India. Pls feel free to contribute from other nations as well.
- Just want to reiterate, I am no authority on fitness or nutrition and I have expressed my opinions based on experience and research. So I can be wrong.
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