Seeing Beyond the Spin

Please forgive me for being redundant and bringing to your attention similar news articles, however I believe that the crux of the nutrition crisis (yes, I do believe it is a crisis) in our country is based around miscommunication and misinformation of the American public. Therefore, when a story surfaces regarding the misuse of marketing terms to describe foods, then I’m going to sound the sirens. Here are two very good examples of marketing spin that confuses consumers and blurs the line of what is really natural.

First, ABCnews.com reports on the recent controversy around the marketing of the popular carbonated beverage 7UP as “100% natural,” despite it being made with high fructose corn syrup.

Second, Candace Choi of the Associated Press highlights the issues of trying to achieve good nutrition within the confusing market speak in her article “Healthy Foods a Pitfall for Dieters.” And while she points out that packaging indicating ‘healthy’ or ‘natural’ can be misleading and calories should be taken into consideration no matter the packaging, she fails to point out the value of deciphering ingredient lists to weed out diet destroyers like processed sugar and sugar substitutes and hydrogenated oils.

We may never have packaging guidelines that define what is really natural and really not, but we can educate ourselves so that we may make smarter choices no matter what the hype.

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