Evidence mounts that what you eat – and how much you eat – affects your health. Today, more people are well aware that good nutrition is a major factor in leading a healthy lifestyle. The problem is, figuring out what is a healthy food and what isn’t can be confusing.
As we became more concerned about the source of our food and the ingredients in it, companies created new strategies for their marketing. They redesigned their food labels to reflect our willingness to pay a little more for foods that are out of our way or healthier. Companies began using terms such as “all natural”, “hormone free”, “no artificial ingredients”, and “free range”.
As a result of all this advertising, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published definitions for several marketing terms, including “natural”, to help consumers know what they were buying. According to the USDA, a food can only be labeled natural if it contains no artificial ingredients or added colors and has been minimally processed.
This definition is enforced through the Food Safety and Inspection Service, which oversees how food is made and what goes into it. They are responsible for backing up product labels with regular inspections.
The term “all natural” was the most commonly used label on new food products in the US last year. Manufacturers wanted to capitalize on last year’s $13 billion natural food market.
The main reason that natural food products sell so well is that you and I believe that if a food is labeled “natural” it must be good for us. Also, if that natural food keeps us healthy then we are ready to pay extra.
The problem is that even with the USDA’s regulations, the term “natural” is not well defined. There is no standard definition for the term except meat and poultry products, except the product contains no synthetic or artificial ingredients, including artificial flavors and food colors.
And a natural food may not be a healthy food either. For example, a brand of vanilla ice cream may meet the natural standard but the product is high in calories and saturated fat. That’s not very healthy!
There is only one way to make a wise decision for natural food products at this point. Read the label. The label will help you compare one product to another and tell you which natural food product – or regular food product – is best suited for your dietary needs.
Source by Ruthan Brodsky
