Deceptive Labeling

Reading the nutritional facts label on a product package is meant to help you understand the contents of that product.

Right…?

This way, you can make an intentional choice about what you're going to consume.

But how can you make an informed decision if you don't know how to read the label in the first place?

It can almost feel like a psychological experiment.

Ingredients are usually listed by their scientific names.

Names we don’t recognize without looking them up.

You read things like Maltodextrin and Sorbitol and you feel like your’e reading a foreign language. And in a way, you are.

Food manufactures do this on purpose. They know if consumers understood what goes into certain processed foods, they would be less likely to buy them.

By obscuring ingredients on a food label, manufacturers can include less-desirable ingredients in these foods and still entice people to keep coming back for more.

So, they make the ingredients list complex and difficult to decipher what's inside.

Know What You’re Reading

Pay attention to serving sizes: these can be much smaller than what someone would actually consume.

For example, you may assume one cookie or chocolate bar would be a serving, when in reality it may really only be half of a cookie, or half a chocolate bar.

Manufacturers are being deceptive by allowing consumers to think that the food has fewer calories and less sugar.

It is important to know product ingredients are listed from highest to lowest amount.

This means that the first ingredient is what the manufacturer used the most of.

So be mindful of the first few ingredients because they make up the largest part of what you’re eating.

Be cautious of additives, and preservatives.

Look out for things like artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.

If you're trying to eat healthier, choose products with fewer artificial ingredients.

Different Forms of Sugar

There are many different terms used for sugar on processed food labels.

Sugars can often be represented by words that end in 'ose' and 'tol':

• Fructose

• Glucose

• Dextrose

• Lactose

• Galactose

• Maltose

• Xylitol

• Erythritol

• Sorbitol

• Mannitol

• Lactitol

• Maltitol

Other types of sugar that you might not realize are sugars include:

• Barley malt

• Molasses

• Cane juice crystals

• Corn sweetener

• Crystalline fructose

• Dextran

• Malt powder

• Fruit juice concentrate

• Disaccharides

• Maltodextrin

Don't forget about the syrups: high-fructose corn syrup, carob syrup, golden syrup, malt syrup, maple syrup, oat syrup, rice bran syrup, rice syrup, and agave nectar.

AND... more names for sugar still exist, but these are the most common forms you will find.

It's also common to see more than one of these on a single label.

It is apparent that manufacturers have discovered many loopholes around food labelling, but they don’t stop at the sugar content.

Labelling Loopholes

A recent analysis by EWG found that “nearly 99 percent of food chemicals introduced since 2000 were greenlighted for use by food and chemical companies” not the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Due to a loophole discovery that allows companies to decide the safety of chemicals for consumption.

This has caused new chemicals, like propyl paraben, and theobromine to be added into foods.

In addition, food labelling laws do not require that all ingredients be listed. Some ingredients can be collectively labelled, for example, spices, flavors, and colors.

There is even an additive loophole in compound ingredients. This means if something added to a product makes up less than 5% of the final product, it is not required to be on the ingredients list.

Front Labels

Front labels are frequently misleading as well.

Think of the front label of a food product as a billboard.

Its sole purpose is to persuade individuals to purchase the item, and a number of these labels can be extremely misleading.

Common Label Claims

“MADE WITH WHOLE GRAINS” Really means the product may include just a “pinch” of whole grains, added to many refined grains.

“NO CHOLESTEROL” Often means the food never contained cholesterol in the first place. Cholesterol is only found in animal products. Plant-derived food never has cholesterol.

“LIGHT” Light products are processed to reduce either calories or fat. Some products are simply watered down.

“NATURAL” This means that at one point the manufacturer worked with a natural source, like apples.

“FORTIFIED/ENRICHED” This means that some nutrients have been added to the product. For example, rice, cereals, and breads are usually enriched.

Note: Just because something has nutrients added, that doesn’t make it healthy.

“NATURAL FLAVORS” Many processed foods claim to use natural flavors, such as peach yogurt. However, the end product may not contain any fruit — only chemicals designed to taste like fruit.

“ZERO TRANS FAT” In the previous article, Beware of Seed Oils, we learned “if a food has less than 0.5 grams of trans fats per serving, the food label can read 0 grams trans fats.” Look out for “hydrogenated” oils.

The Upside

There are lots of wholesome foods that are minimally processed and honestly labeled.

It’s important to be able to tell the difference between a truly nutritious food and an imposter.

Look for foods with simple, whole ingredients.

Ingredients you recognize and can pronounce are generally better.

It is important—now more than ever—to educate yourself on food labeling tactics.

Be careful and read the ingredients list.