There are a lot of pros to grocery shopping in America (aside from the prices), but our food labeling system? Well, that could use some work. The sad truth is that so much of what you see on packaged material is designed to trick you, no matter how earnest the font happens to be.
There are a few claims on packages out there that sound nice, but should prompt further investigation. Here are eight classic ones.
Gluten Free
Are you paying extra for something that’s gluten free? It’s possible that it never really needed gluten to begin with; lots of things don’t. Make sure you’re not falling for a fancy price tag, and certainly don’t be fooled into thinking that gluten-free food is automatically healthier than other food.
Wheat and Grain
Words like “multi-grain” or “made with wheat” may appear on the box, but that’s not really the thing you’re looking for. If you want to eat something that’s entirely wheat or grain-based, you need to look for the magic number: 100. When something is 100% wheat or 100% whole grain, you can rest-assured. Otherwise, “multi-grain” and “made with wheat” can be misleading.
Made With Real Fruit and Veggies
You barely have to include real fruit or vegetables to get over this extremely low bar. Let’s put it this way: If something is 2% real fruit juice, that counts as having been made with real fruit. See the issue here?
Lightly Sweetened
These are, unfortunately, just words, and don’t have much to do with the actual sugar content. This falls under the same category as “bold flavor” or “new and improved.” More of an opinion than an actual nutritional fact, really.
Fat Free
It feels like this one should be simple, right? Wrong! “Fat free” can actually contain up to 0.5% fat per serving, believe it or not. Read the nutrition facts closely for real answers.
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Keto
A lot of less healthy products will try to pass themselves off for healthy choices simply by slapping the word “keto” in front of your face. While ”keto” generally goes along with no added sugars or carbs, that’s where it stops. Anything else is fair game.
Made With Real Sea Salt
So something’s made with real sea salt. So what? Sea salt and table salt have the same amount of sodium. Don’t pay extra for something that may not accomplish what you want it to accomplish.
No Added Sugar
This label can still mislead, because products can contain a lot of naturally occurring sugars (like fruit juice concentrates or lactose) or be loaded with artificial sweeteners. No added sugar doesn’t always equal low sugar (or healthy, for that matter).
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