Beware Food Companies' Health Claims

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Beware Food Companies' Health Claims

JoAnn Guest

May 25, 2006 14:57 PDT

 

 

Beware Food Companies' Health Claims

http://annieappleseedproject.stores..net/bewfoodcomhe.html

 

You may think that a genuine interest in consumer health prompts

food

companies to market products that claim to reduce the risk of heart

disease or cancer or help people lose weight. Think again.

 

Many food companies are interested in one thing - the most efficient

route to extra sales. The more products consumers buy and the more

of

them they eat, the fatter the companies' coffers. And, alas, the

fatter

the consumers are likely to be, as well.

 

The concerns and interests of consumers are fickle, and food

companies

are quick to cash in on them. In recent years, trends have shifted

from

low salt to high fiber to fat free and now to low in carbohydrates,

high

in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, and free of trans fats.

Food

companies have introduced new, reformulated or repositioned products

to

satisfy every new vogue in nutrition, regardless of how well or

poorly

grounded it may be in science.

 

But in what has become a near free-for-all marketplace for health

claims

on food products, consumers are often convinced that the more they

eat

of these products, the healthier, or thinner, they are likely to be.

 

Once more, think again. Congress has made it extremely difficult for

the

Food and Drug Administration to closely regulate health-related

claims

for foods and supplements, and the agency is struggling to catch up

with

the flood of recent claims for low-carb products. Meanwhile, health

claims and endorsements from organizations like the American Heart

Association and the American Diabetes Association often appear on

products that nutrition specialists consider anything but healthful.

 

'Calorie Distracters'

 

Dr. Marion Nestle, former head of nutrition and now professor of

public

health at New York University, calls such claims " calorie

distracters "

because they carry a subtle but highly seductive message that it is

O.K.

to eat unlimited amounts because the food is supposedly good for you.

 

These days, consumers can find on grocery shelves many snacks

advertised

as low or lower in carbohydrates or as containing no trans fats, the

heart-damaging substances formed when vegetable oils are

hydrogenated.

Hundreds of products carry the American Heart Association Food

Certification Program heart-check mark. To participate in the

association's program, these products must meet the nutritional

requirements established by the heart association, which parallel

those

set by the F.D.A. and the Department of Agriculture for a product to

make a coronary heart disease health claim.

 

But the criteria do not include low sugar content because there is

not

sufficient scientific evidence at this time that sugar is a risk

factor

for heart disease.

 

Thus, the heart association has endorsed General Mills's Cocoa Puffs

cereal, a cup of which contains 120 calories, 14 grams of sugar and

no

fiber, and the company's Cookie Crisp cereal, with 120 calories and

13

grams of sugar per cup. Both products derive more than 40 percent of

their calories from sugar - hardly a nourishing start to the day,

even

if they are low in fat.

 

Likewise, Post's Frosted Shredded Wheat, with 180 calories and 12

grams

of sugar per cup, promotes itself as " A proud sponsor of the

American

Diabetes Association, " a surprising bedfellow for a sweetened

cereal,

even one made from whole grain. The diabetes association has now

changed

its policy and will no longer automatically permit such statements

from

companies that contribute to it, a spokesman said.

 

There are many other health-related claims, none of which require

the

prior approval of the Food and Drug Association, including these:

 

• M & M Mars's Cocoa Via chocolate, made with " natural plant extracts

which are proven to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, " leaves the

consumer with the impression that it might protect against heart

disease.

 

• Dreamfield's low-carbohydrate pasta states " now you can eat the

pasta

you love without all the carbs you don't. " Yet, like regular pasta,

Dreamfield's has enriched semolina (wheat flour) as the first

ingredient

and derives 84 percent of its calories from carbohydrates.

 

• General Mills's Corn Flakes Total carries a heart association

endorsement and a claim that " the calcium in Total may help you lose

more weight. " More than what, I'd like to know.

 

Junk Food Junkies

 

The problem with such questionable health claims, Dr. Nestle said,

is

that they give people permission " to eat as much of them as they

want.''

 

" Yes, it's great to get the trans fats out of chips and pretzels, "

she

said, " but these foods still have calories and they're still junk

food. "

 

If junk foods were a small fraction of what Americans consume, this

would be of little concern to professionals who see their role as

protectors of the public's health. But they're not.

 

The latest analysis of foods Americans eat, based on 24-hour

consumption

reports from 4,760 adult participants in the National Health and

Nutrition Examination Survey, revealed that at least 30 percent of

total

calories come from sugary and salty snacks and drinks: sweets,

desserts,

soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, salty snacks and fruit-flavored

drinks.

 

The researcher who did the analysis, Dr. Gladys Block, a professor

of

epidemiology and public health nutrition at the University of

California, Berkeley, said of her findings: " What is really alarming

is

the major contribution of 'empty calories' in the American diet. We

know

people are eating a lot of junk food, but to have almost one-third

of

Americans' calories coming from those categories is a shocker. It's

no

wonder there's an obesity epidemic in this country. "

 

The junk food marketing prize goes to so-called low-carb

products, " an

astonishing 930'' of which " have been introduced to U.S. markets in

the

last five years, " according to the June issue of Consumer Reports.

 

Food companies have produced snacks and sweets containing small

amounts

of so-called " net carbs " by replacing some of the refined flour and

caloric sweeteners in the traditional products with dietary fiber,

starches resistant to digestive enzymes and sugar alcohols that, it

is

believed, pass unabsorbed through the human digestive tract.

 

But the low-carb label claims are essentially meaningless, since

there

are no rules or official definitions of what they mean. Nor are

there

any studies showing that including these " treats " in an Atkins-style

diet will result in any weight loss at all.

 

As Consumer Reports points out, if you follow the Atkins allowance

of 40

" net carbs " a day but fail to pay attention to calories, you could

easily land on a fat farm or seriously malnourished.

 

Staying within the prescribed carb limit, the consumer organization

showed that in the course of one day you could consume a 12-ounce

Michelob Ultra beer, two 1-ounce bags of Atkins Crunchers chips, one

cup

of Atkins Endulge vanilla ice cream, two Carborite chocolate chip

cookies, one-eighth of an Entenmann's Carb-Counting cake and 10

pieces

of Russell Stover Low Carb Pecan Delight chocolates - for a grand

total

of 1,440 calories. And you would still not have eaten any foods that

supplied your body with the nutrients required for good health.

 

The Food and Drug Administration is currently struggling to come up

with

regulations for low-carb and reduced-carb claims. Meanwhile, caveat

emptor.

 

 

 

PERSONAL HEALTH

 

By JANE E. BRODY, 9/21/04

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets