Don't believe everything you read on nutrition labels

lumix · Mar 25, 2013

Time to give up that low fat yoghurt, sodium reduced soup?

Don't believe everything you read on nutrition labels
Patrick Langston
Postmedia News
March 25, 2013

You've bought them: Those foods whose labels trumpet, "reduced sodium," "low in fat" and "healthy choice."

But should we be taking such claims with a grain of salt? Here's what we discovered about some common food terms.

LOW IN FAT

Health Canada requires that a product bearing a "low in fat" claim have no more than three grams of fat in the quantity of food specified on the nutrition facts label.

Problem is, the quantity of food specified could be absurdly low - a third of a cup, for example, when most people would eat a cup or more.

As well, fat is often the ingredient that gives a product taste and texture, says Toronto dietitian Rosie Schwartz. "In ice cream, if the fat's removed then something else was put in, like sugar, to make it taste better."
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SODIUM-REDUCED

One variety of Campbell's condensed tomato soup, for example, boasts that it has 25-percent less sodium than the regular variety. However, at 360 milligrams per serving, that's still 15 per cent of the maximum daily sodium intake (Tolerable Upper Intake Limit or UL) of 2,300 mg recommended by Health Canada and a whopping 24 per cent of the lower intake (Adequate Intake or AI) of 1,500 mg that Health Canada actually recommended for people ages 14 to 50.
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SOURCE OF OMEGA-3

"If you look at foods that have omega-3 added, the amount is minuscule. With one kind of bread we saw, you'd have to eat 17 loaves to get the amount of omega-3 you need."

In fact, Freedhoff says he pays "zero attention" to health claims on the labels of grocery store items. "If a box needs to convince you that a food is good for you, it probably isn't."
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BOTTOM LINE?

Take a broad, unprocessed, non-prepackaged approach to what you put in your mouth, says Freedhoff. "What I care about is overall food consumption patterns. That's getting fruits and vegetables in your daily diet, eating fish, reducing the trans fats."

For more on understanding food labels, go to Healthycanadians.gc.ca and click on food at the top of the page then food labels.
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Don't believe everything you read on nutrition labels

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