11 incorrect food slogans

Ir. Ralph Moorman

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Food in our supermarkets is constantly evolving. But always in the right direction?

Changes over the years

In prehistory, we grabbed our spear when we felt like a piece of meat, or picked fruits right off the trees. No one had to tell us what was good or bad for us. We had never heard of cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity. Now we hunt and gather in the supermarket, a hunting ground where the roast chickens (plus bags of chips, orange biscuits and hops custard) fly straight into our mouths.

For that convenience, we pay a high price: obesity and type II diabetes are epidemic become more common and the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease has risen to record levels. No one doubts that this calamity is partly caused by what we eat. Apparently, somewhere along the way from the savannah to the supermarket, we have forgotten what does and does not belong to our ideal diet. Where tradition and instinct used to keep us away from poisonous mushrooms and poorly digestible plants, we now peer frantically at the fine print on labels and are seduced by ringing marketing slogans, such as: "Good for cardiovascular health!", "Now with even fewer calories!" and "No sugar added!".

Food... 5 discoveries!

While studying food technology at Wageningen University, I made a number of discoveries about the food we get in the supermarket every day:

Many foods in the supermarket are artificial
Modern foods contain harmful substances
Modern foods contain chemical additives
Food manufacturers are not always transparent about their products
Many health claims on foods are untrue.

-> Read the elaboration of these 5 points here.

By putting completely new food blends on the shelves on the one hand, while on the other hand little is known about their long-term health effects, we as consumers are unwitting guinea pigs in a global health experiment. Are packets of soup with balls of soy protein, tubs of dairy full of high fructose corn syrup and Chips sauce with particles of bisphenol-A coming out of the packaging really as safe and healthy as the manufacturers claim? The omens are not rosy given the encroaching diseases of affluence

So my motto amid all this uncertainty and unsettling omens is: "Stay as close to nature with your diet as possible. Eat as much as possible what our ancestors ate in the time before manufacturers started interfering with our food."

11 supposedly healthy food slogans

The deception often starts with the name of the product, coined by a food manufacturer's marketing department. The people in these departments are incredibly creative, but usually have little understanding of nutrition and health. Even the slogans used alongside the brand name cannot live up to their name, in my opinion. Be wary of any product that harbours a health claim in its slogan.

1) Fruit juice 'for the daily portion of fruit'

Everyone knows that fruit is healthy, but most juices in the supermarket are fruit concentrates, diluted with water. And that is a bit different from a freshly squeezed apple or pear. Because the natural sugar content in fruit concentrates is high, if consumed in excess, it can lead to obesity and insulin resistance. Many juices are also pasteurised, a process in which vitamins are lost. Fruit drinks, fruit nectars and double drinks contain not only the juice of fruit, but also added sugar.

2) Vegetable drink 'for the daily portion of vegetables'

Drinking vegetable juice absolutely cannot replace eating vegetables. It involves vegetable concentrate diluted with water. During the production process, all kinds of vitamins and other valuable nutrients are lost.

3) Margarine 'for the heart and vessels'

Many people think that by spreading artificial butter (because that is what margarine is) they are doing a very healthy thing. This is due to aggressive advertising campaigns by the manufacturers. The controversial link of linoleic acid with lower cardiovascular disease rates has long been argued by margarine manufacturers and expressed in the most stilted claims on the packaging. Now that there is increasing evidence that a excess linoleic acid is actually harmful, one increasingly sees omega-3 fats added on packaging. Here, the industry is hitching a ride on the positive coverage around omega-3 fatty acids. But margarine is and remains a factory product packed with linoleic acid.

4) Margarine 'to lower your cholesterol'

Unilever is running a marketing campaign to make you believe that Becel pro-activ with added plant sterols protects us against cardiovascular disease. Although scientific studies are flaunted, this claim cannot be substantiated. Plant sterols do have a proven cholesterol-lowering effect (so this can be claimed), but whether lowering cholesterol has a direct, causal relationship with a lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, is still under debate. Critical organisation Foodwatch therefore finds the suggestion that Becel proactiv reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease misleading, and is campaigning to ban this claim.

5) Wholemeal bread, 'there's something in that'

Wholemeal bread has long had a reputation as an almost indispensable health food. For instance, many people think they only get enough fibre if they eat wholemeal bread daily. Unjustifiably, fibre is also provided by vegetables, legumes and fruits, for example. The absorption of vitamins and minerals from bread is hampered by a number of factors. For instance, the substance phytic acid inhibits the absorption of some minerals. The intestinal problems that can occur with hypersensitivity to gluten also thwart optimal absorption. Furthermore, yeast and glycation products in the crust are not conducive to health. Many people who replace (wholemeal) bread with gluten-free food start to feel better quickly!

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6) Light products 'for the slim line'

A product may be called light if it contains fewer calories or less sugar. If it contains fewer calories, fats are often replaced by carbohydrates. However, there is growing evidence that not fats, but juist carbohydrates cause obesity. If a light product contains less sugar, sugar has usually been replaced by chemical sweeteners. The long-term health effect of these substances is unclear, while they do not help you get rid of the fattening (!) sweet addiction.
In addition: whether the number of calories you take in gives you pleasure or not
does not make you fat is related to hormonal balance and exercise pattern. Issues such as compensatory behaviour and sweet addiction also play a role. That eating light products leads to weight loss is an oversimplification.

7) Frying oil 'with added omega 3 fatty acids'

More and more healthy properties are being attributed to omega 3 fatty acids. By adding them to their products, manufacturers try to ride on the positive buzz in the media. But when heated, these fragile fatty acids oxidise and become harmful rather than healthy! Omega-3 fatty acids therefore have no place in cooking oil.

8) Dairy drinks 'for good bowel function'

With probiotics in some dairy drinks, certain strains of bacteria in the gut can be re-inoculated, helping to rebalance a damaged gut flora. However, intestinal flora is made up of many different strains of bacteria and reinforcing exactly the right strains requires customisation. The chances of the bacteria in a dairy drink belonging to exactly one weakened strain are not high. Moreover, the dairy in these products actually disrupts gut function in many people. The drinks are also often full of sugar or sweeteners.

9) Milk 'for strong bones'

Bones contain calcium and osteoporosis is a widespread problem, especially in the elderly. This is why many Dutch people drink milk, which is rich in calcium. But to create bone mass, more minerals are needed besides calcium. Plus vitamin D and K2. Proper functioning of hormones, good bowel function and sufficient exercise are also essential. So the claim that drinking milk makes your bones stronger is a simplification of things and also unproven. Too much calcium can also cause other problems, such as arteriosclerosis. The fear of not getting enough calcium if
you do not consume dairy products is unjustified. You can get enough calcium from vegetables, calcium-rich tap water and from a broth drawn from bones, for example.

10) Peanut butter, 'who hasn't grown up with it?'

Whole tribes grew up with bread plus peanut butter. While the product contains vegetable fats, much of it has been hydrogenated, which means it can contain trans fats. Many people are also allergic to peanuts to varying degrees. Moreover, it turns out that peanut butter is one of the richest dietary sources of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs are harmful substances that, among other things, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. What about the vitamins in peanut butter? You will also find them in many other products that are really healthy.

11) Instant soup mixes 'against the daily afternoon dip'

The afternoon dip exploited by marketing creatives can be remedied just fine with healthy snacks. You really don't need bags of sugar, binder and flavour enhancer E621 for it.

As a Food Technology graduate from Wageningen University, I know exactly what is actually in products and how they are manufactured, how health claims and ingredient declarations are misleading, and how we are actually being educated about health by marketers instead of health experts.