UW-Madison sophomore David Christopher knows junk food when he sees it. Food companies can't fool him; even when phrases like 'low-fat' or 'zero grams of carbohydrates' clutter food packages,
Christopher is not deceived. 'There's so many tricks that they hide, like when it's low-fat, it doesn't mean that it's healthy,' Christopher said. 'I'm more of a skeptic than most.'
But how can consumers like Christopher really know what products are healthy after reading food packages? Junk foods have gotten a makeover and they want you, as a health-conscious consumer, to notice.
To get your attention, food companies can create entirely new products or revamp their old products. Think of the last time you went grocery shopping or were at a fast food restaurant. Did any product catch your eye? If you've been to McDonald's lately, you may have noticed that the menu has expanded to include 'Premium Salads' as part of its GoActive! campaign.
What has triggered a fast food restaurant like McDonald's to introduce a line of salads?
'The obesity epidemic has certainly caught the industry's attention,' said Monica Theis, registered dietician and senior lecturer in the food science department at UW-Madison. 'But from my perspective,' Theis said, 'the number one thing that companies are going to look at is, 'Is it going to sell''?
Besides creating new products, companies make healthier products by reformulation, or giving the old products a makeover.
'Companies will say, we'll reformulate if we can maintain product quality in terms of flavor, safety, how it holds up in transportation and shelf life,' Theis said.
An example Theis mentioned is the Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish that were recently remade without trans fatty acids, which contribute to heart disease. Although Pepperidge Farm was not encouraged to reform Goldfish by the government, listing trans fatty acids on the package's nutrition information panel will be required of all companies by Jan. 1, 2006. As a result, more companies may choose to reformulate in order to say their product has 'zero grams of trans fat' and to stay competitive.
Although labeling of a specific nutrient like trans fatty acids may be required by the government, what companies are allowed to say about their product and its nutrients are often less definitive.
Food claims are categorized as either health claims or nutrient claims. Whereas health claims make a statement that something in the food has a health benefit, nutrient claims say which nutrient is prevalent and how much is within a product.
Theis' advice: take health claims in isolation.
'Take oatmeal, for example,' Theis said. 'Oat bran has been linked to reduction of heart disease. If you eat too much oatmeal beyond your caloric needs and maintain an unhealthy weight, you know you really aren't getting the health benefit.'
Like oat bran, foods that naturally contain ingredients or are fortified with ingredients that reduce the risk of heart disease represent a new area of marketing which use functional health claims.
Contrarily, if a company that produces orange juice 'fortified with calcium, and then it would say, contains 15 grams or milligrams of calcium, that would be a nutrient claim,' Theis said. 'It's just saying how much of a specific nutrient is in here.'
When the FDA is deciding which claims to allow, decisions are based on scientific studies. However, there is no standard to interpreting research.
'This is one of the conundrums based on sound science,' Theis said. 'The companies say, 'Well, there is research, here it is,' but at what point is it a preponderance [of evidence]'?
Hold on, it gets more complicated.
Health and nutrient claims aside, companies can also have icons on packages that are not regulated.
If you have noticed a green circle reading 'Smart Choices Made Easy' on products like Gatorade or Baked Tostitos, it is no accident. In July 2004, PepsiCo, one of the world's largest food companies, announced a new way for consumers to make nutritional decisions about its products. The criteria PepsiCo used to classify Smart Spot foods depend on the type of food, with varying requirements for beverages, foods and snacks.
These requirements were based on nutritional recommendations from the government, and needed to 'meet nutrition criteria based on authoritative statements from the Food and Drug Administration and the National Academy of Sciences,' PepsiCo said.
Like Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish, PepsiCo has reformulated many of their products. With enough scientific evidence, the claim that Goldfish contains 'zero grams of fat' can be regulated as a nutrient claim. However, for a product labeled with a Smart Spot, it is up to PepsiCo to determine the spot's validity, which is not specifically regulated by the government.
With all these claims, defined by countless regulations, demanding our attention, how can consumers choose products that are actually healthy?
'My number one recommendation for people buying these products is look at the big picture in terms of your whole healthy lifestyle, in terms of variety of low-fat, high-nutrient, natural foods, daily exercise, those types of things,' Theis said. 'To me, health is a lifestyle. It's not about choosing one food here and there.'
