Ways the Food Industry Is Tricking You

Have you ever been duped? Really duped? Think you haven’t? Think again! The truth is, you’re actually getting duped every time you walk into your local grocery store. That’s right: The one place you go to fill your fridge with honest, good-for-you foods is also the one place keeping you fat and sick. It’s not the grocery store’s fault, either. It's the guy behind the curtain that supplies the grocery store – the food industry. It has spent billions of dollars in marketing tactics and techniques to confuse you into thinking that you’re getting really healthy food, when most of the time, you’re not. 

1. Multi-grain products or products “made with whole grains.” 

The benefits of eating only whole-grain foods are abundant – and include reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes, as well as improved weight control. The unfortunate truth is that even the best-intended shoppers may be buying a product they think is whole grain, but actually isn’t. Enter the multi-grain market. A 2013 study from Harvard found that consumers are still very confused when it comes to making the right choice in the whole-grain arena. The basic definition of a whole grain is a grain that keeps all three of its components (the bran, the germ and the endosperm) intact. When manufacturers strip the bran and germ from the kernel, it no longer provides you with the great benefits that are connected with the entire whole grain. In fact, refined grains can wreak havoc on your risk of chronic disease by causing intense swings in blood sugar and insulin. The definition of multigrain, however, means that a product has a “multitude” of grains. It does not mean that all the grains are “whole.” That means you may be buying multigrain bread or crackers thinking it’s better for you than it actually is.

Your best bet: Choose breads, pastas, cereals and crackers with a percentage attached to its marketing (such as 100 percent whole wheat) or its labeling (such as the Whole Grain Council’s 100 percent whole-grain stamp), and stick with grain products that have less ingredients. This is often a sign that it’s more whole than not.

2. Products “made with all natural ingredients.” 

I recently encouraged a patient to switch from her processed “traditional” peanut butter to a more natural version that contained peanuts and nothing else. Turns out that I never should’ve used the word "natural." The next week, she brought me the "natural" peanut butter she found at the supermarket. It included the following: peanuts, sugar, palm oil and salt. Natural? Think again. The food industry has been ramping up its "natural" claims for years, in an attempt to have consumers think they’re getting a better deal than they would with a processed counterpart. Natural, as the example above would suggest, is not always better. Sugar – and all the natural forms it comes in – is still sugar, a simple carbohydrate that may be partly to blame for our girth and sickness as a nation. Palm oil is  not much better and has been linked to increases in bad cholesterol. Further, because the use of the term "natural" is so hard to define, the Food and Drug Administration hasn't assigned an official definition to it. The “natural” term will become even more heated as the food industry and federal government attempt to determine if GMOs will fall into a natural category as well.

Your best bet: Consume foods that are truly natural. That often means they contain only one ingredient (like peanut butter made only with peanuts) or fruits, vegetables and nuts.

3. Products made with real fruit. 

Moms, I’m talking to you. Of all the deceptive claims out there, this is the one most of my mom patients are fooled by. This preposterous claim doesn’t hold much merit once you turn the product around and look at the ingredient list. The problem is, most of us are so seduced by the front of the package that we don’t bother to actually see what’s in it. The “made with real fruit” claim made the news in 2012, when a woman noticed that her strawberry snacks lacked strawberries – and that the only resemblance to fruit in the ingredient list was pear concentrate. She sued a large food manufacturer when she noticed it. The “made with real fruit” is simply another way to either be totally duped or feel some sort of justification for that “fruit” cookie or gummy candy you just bought.

Your best bet is buying real fruit. It happens to be in the one place at your grocery store that has no need for labels: the produce section. 

17D-NLS may detect the influence of food on the human body, help us make the right choice.