Dodge Health Food Deception

Over the past few years it has become trendy for the food industry to offer healthy food choices. This is particularly exciting for me as a health professional and consumer. The increased availability of nutritious and organic food enables all of us to live healthier. Unfortunately, companies are taking advantage of the demand for healthier food by labeling and marketing under false pretenses.

We need to be very careful in our selection of food to ensure we are purchasing the “Real McCoy” and not an imposter. I have selected a few misconceptions we often make regarding healthy food. As well as identified various marketing tactics used by companies to make you think you are buying something healthy.

Natural versus Organic

It seems in the last few years everyone is putting the word “natural” or “real ingredients” on their packaging. Cookies and soda are boasting about how their products contain “all natural” ingredients. The only thing this “natural” tag ensures is that you probably won’t find any unicorn byproducts or fairy dust extract in the ingredient list.

Hopefully by my sarcasm you get the point that this “natural” label can be applied to anything. The terms “natural” or “real” are not quantifiable terms used by the United States Department of Agriculture. Therefore, anyone can put the words “natural” on their packaging with no consequences from a governing body. For this reason, it has become an abundant adjective found on everything.

The term you want to look for is “organic," as it is a classification governed by the USDA. Organic food is grown and harvested without the use of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, drugs or genetically modified organisms (GMO). Look for the “USDA Organic” medallion logo to ensure that the product being purchased meets these standards of purity.

Farmers' Market ≠ Organic Produce

The resurgence of farmers' markets has been remarkable as of late. Natural Health Magazine cited in 1994 there were 1,175 farmers' markets in the United States. Today that number has exploded to 6,000 due to the demand for more local and healthy food. The time it takes for our food to go from the fields to our plates significantly impacts its nutritional value.

Shorter spans of time equate to foods with higher content of vitamins, minerals, and always important antioxidants. Foods begin to break down once they are picked and their nutritional value decreases with time. Therefore, your garden or local farmers' market is most likely providing produce with higher nutritional content than from the grocery store.

Unfortunately, many people falsely assume that because its from a farmers' market it must be organic. Organic farmers are still the minority even at the farmers' market. Harmful pesticide and fertilizer residue is very prevalent on traditionally farmed produce. Which in turn has a negative effect on the antioxidant levels of produce.

A Washington State University study in 2009 concluded that organic strawberries had significantly higher antioxidant content and micronutrients than traditionally farmed strawberries. The logic behind these results comes from the absence of pesticides. Plants must produce higher concentrations of antioxidants to protect themselves from parasites and disease in their environment. Make sure to ask your favorite farm stand or vendor if their produce is truly organic.

All Salmon Are Not Created Equal

Salmon have been heralded by many nutritionists and doctors as a super food. It is high in protein and loaded with wonderful omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3’s among many other things have been linked to reducing the risk of heart attack and cancer prevention. Due to its popularity, the industry of salmon farming has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Unfortunately, farm-raised salmon are very low in omega-3 fatty acids in contrast to their wild cousins.

Farm-raised salmon also have much higher levels of harmful mercury, antibiotics, and PCB’s. In fact, a study published in Science Magazine by Ronald Hites measured the contaminants in over 700 farm-raised salmon from around the world. This study concluded that consuming merely one farm-raised salmon a month “could pose unacceptable cancer risks according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards."

These dangerous contaminants are a result of salmon undergoing treatments of antibiotics and being fed mercury-laden ground fish meal. In contrast, wild salmon avoid exposure to antibiotics and feed naturally on omega-3 rich krill. Wild Alaskan salmon are considered to be the “gold standard” in regards to nutrition and sustainable harvesting.

The Alaskan fishing industry allows harvesting during limited seasons and enforces catch limits to ensure salmon populations are not overfished.

Multi-grain is an unhealthy option

This marketing ploy really gets under my skin because I think it fools a lot of people. For many years we have learned of the benefits of eating whole grain and whole wheat products instead of white breads, grains and pastas. Luckily, there is demand for these products as restaurants and companies now offer these as options regularly. However, be careful of a big imposter in our midst.

Multi-grain bread is not whole grain bread. It is only slightly healthier for you than white bread. The “devil is in the details” with multi-grain bread. When you roll a package over to read the nutrition labelm, careful attention must be made to the ingredients list.

Ingredients are listed by quantity. Therefore, the most prevalent ingredient is listed first and the ingredient in the minority is listed last. If you truly have whole grain bread it will list whole wheat flour or whole grain flour as the first ingredient on the list. You want to see the word “whole” before the first ingredient listed. Terms such as “wheat flour," “fortified flour," or “enriched wheat flour” are not the same. The issue with these imposters is that they are processed simple carbohydrates, meaning the majority of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber have been removed during processing.

In addition, simple carbohydrates spike insulin blood levels and have been identified as a major contributor to obesity.

A step in the right direction

It is exciting to see that a diverse range of healthy foods are becoming more readily available. From a convenience factor this greatly enables many of us to consume more healthy and nutritious diets. This surge of healthy products is directly related to consumer demand. It is exciting because it means people want to eat healthy. Despite these developments, consumers must do their due diligence in seeking out the products that truly are beneficial for them.

Do not simply assume that because something is marketed as healthy or natural that it is good for you. Purchasing these healthy options is ultimately casting a vote to increase the availability of nutritious and affordable food for all of us.