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Posted: 10:36 AM Nov 4, 2006
Nutrition Hurdles
Look beyond the hype Studies show that super foods like blueberries and broccoli are high in antioxidants and therefore healthy. But watch out for the nutritional land mines.
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Studies show that super foods like blueberries and broccoli are high in antioxidants and therefore healthy. But are some food manufacturers using the research underhandedly?
When Lindsay Bondurant wanted to lose weight, she started reading labels.
“I think that’s where people really start to make mistakes is they just don’t realize what’s in the food that they’re eating,” she says.
Nutrition expert Tom Cooley agrees and he puts part of the blame on food manufacturers.
Cooley says, "They want every person out there to think that there’s some benefit to the foods that they’re selling. And they want to present it to you in such a way that you’re going to want to consume that food.”
Remember when researchers linked a low-fat diet to a reduced risk of heart disease? Even snacks had “low-fat’ on the label.
Cooley says, "People felt that they were safe consuming all those calories because they were fat-free. But sugar and carbohydrates were causing people to gain weight, which contributed to additional heart disease.”
His advice is that you should not take the front of the box at face value.
“Don’t think because it says low-fat that it’s low in fat," he says. "It’s just lower in fat."
He says food manufacturers often pay for research, then use the findings to boost sales.
Cooley says, "It’s not that chocolate is good for you. Cocoa’s good for you. It’s not that cranberry juice is good for you. Cranberries themselves are good for you, but they’re too sour to eat by themselves.”
Fat and sugar are added to make the foods palatable.
Lindsay Bondurant says, "I try not to get sucked in by advertising or labels in terms of what’s light and low-fat and things like that.”
She says you have to read between the lines to ensure that super foods really are super.
Cooley says your best bet is to stick to the perimeter of the grocery store where you'll find most foods in their natural state. Get out your reading glasses when you shop the rest of the store.
Fast Facts:
Functional Foods
Health experts have advised a healthy diet for all Americans with plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole grains and limited amounts of fats, sugars and salt. Some foods seem to be better than others. Functional foods are foods that provide nutrition and added health benefits. Researchers have uncovered many examples of functional foods. Here is a list of some of them and their potential benefits:
Looking Past the Hype
The FDA currently allows manufacturers to make certain health claims on food packages. However, sometimes those claims become somewhat “stretched” to lure a customer into a purchase. For example, a manufacturer may claim a product is rich in vitamin “C” – without any direct health claim – but having an implied claim the product may somehow improve health or well being.
Tom Cooley, R.D., Nutrition Expert with Temple University, says consumers who are trying to be health conscious may find themselves choosing products for the wrong reasons. A juice, for example, may be labeled as having vitamin C. Yet, when looking at the actual nutrition label, the amount of vitamin C is minimal. In order to get the recommended daily amount of vitamin C, a person may have to drink several glasses of the juice. That may also mean taking in a lot of extra sugar and calories. Even a so-called “nutritional” snack bar can be filled with sugar, calories and fats.
Cooley is worried that consumers may be so “health concerned” that they blindly follow advertising without taking a hard look at what they are eating. He recommends consumers become regular “label readers” to look at what’s really inside a package. Some of the worst offenders are the packed food products, some of which have added ingredients to make them appear to be healthy foods. But a product that contains one “healthy” ingredient may also contain a lot of other ingredients that aren’t very healthy. Look at how much of that ingredient is actually in the package. Manufacturers are required to list food ingredients in descending order of weight, with the largest ingredient at the beginning of the list and the smallest at the end.
Cooley says the best way to get nutrients is through their natural state (i.e., the nutrients are naturally in the food rather than added during manufacturing). He recommends whole grains, fruits and vegetables and in limited amounts, dairy and meats. In most grocery stores, those foods are usually located around the perimeter of the building. People who are concerned they may not be getting enough nutrients can take a multivitamin to supplement a healthy diet. In addition, regular exercise and an ideal body weight are important components of a healthy lifestyle.
Web Recourses:
For information on reading a food label, visit the FDA's Web site
For general information on healthy eating and super foods and government regulation:
