The sneaky packaging claims that can derail your health kick

If you’re not an expert, the labels on food packaging can be confusing to navigate.

At just 105 kcal and 7 per cent of your daily fat intake, 180g of Marks & Spencer’s Bang Bang Noodle Slaw looks like an incredibly healthy lunch offering. But look a little closer and you’ll spot it is not what it seems.

Last month Marks & Spencer was forced to review its packaging after complaints from consumer watchdog Which? pointed out that some of the labels on its own-brand foods made them look healthier by saying they were intended to ‘serve 2′, despite offering small portions.

Marks & Spencer is far from alone. According to the instructions on the back of the packet, a 175g bag of Haribo contains seven servings (of approximately six to seven sweets). A standard-sized 185g tube of Pringles is supposed to contain six to seven portions. One “portion” of Quality Street is two chocolates.

Which? research from earlier this year also found that the size of a “portion” varies wildly. On different sizes of Cadbury Dairy Milk bars, one portion was described as 20g, 27.2g, 27.5g, 30g and 33.5g.

But confusing portion sizes are far from the only means by which food manufacturers play with our expectations. Here are a few things to look out for when you’re trying to find a healthy option…

No added sugar

Even without "added sugar", fruit juice is naturally sweet and should be consumed in moderation.

“This one drives me crazy,” says registered nutritionist Jenna Hope. “While it might not contain any extrinsic added sugars, often these products are still very sugary.”

For example, fruit juice such as Cawston Press’s Cloudy Apple juice can proudly claim to be “100% pure pressed juice” with “no added sugar”. But due to the sugars inherent in apples, a 150ml glass will still contain 17 per cent of your daily recommended sugar intake.

Many drinks manufacturers have reformulated their recipes to include “no sugar”, but this should be considered a red flag, says Hope. “They contain a lot of artificial sweeteners. Just because something doesn’t have sugar doesn’t mean it’s healthy.”

Often the sugars that would have been added are replaced with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, acesulfame potassium (sometimes called ace-K), and cyclamate. “We don’t fully understand the health implications, but there’s an argument that they are as detrimental to us in different ways,” says Hope.

“Some research suggests they might impact the gut bacteria negatively, contribute to dysregulating blood sugar levels, or they may have some impact on neurological health later in life.”

Natural

“[Natural is] a word I find annoying on food packaging because it doesn’t mean anything,” says nutritionist Jenna Hope. Photo / 123RF

“It’s a word I find annoying on food packaging because it doesn’t mean anything,” says Hope. “There isn’t any kind of definition and people get sucked into thinking it means ‘healthy’ when it doesn’t necessarily.

“Often you see it on things which have been sweetened with honey or maple syrup, but just because those come from natural sources doesn’t mean they have any different impact on your body than processed sugar. They will still spike your blood sugar levels which leads to cravings, increased appetite, and ultimately diabetes.”

Take, for instance, an Eat Natural dark chocolate bar with cranberries and macadamias. Though it is undoubtedly a healthier snack choice than a chocolate bar, it still contains nearly 16g of sugar and 12g of fat – 18 and 17 per cent of your daily guideline recommended amount respectively.

Low and no fat

Often found on yoghurts, this is another of Hope’s red flags.

“People automatically assume that low fat or zero per cent fat is healthy,” says Hope, “but we actually do need the fat in things like dairy to be able to absorb nutrients like vitamin A and vitamin D which are present in dairy products. When you take the fats out, you can’t absorb and utilise those ingredients.”

Not only that, but fat-free yoghurts can also “contain a lot of chemicals and emulsifiers, and often they’ll include more sugars and sweeteners to replace the flavour”, says Hope.

No- or low-fat yoghurts often contain artificial sweeteners and chemicals such as emulsifiers. Photo / 123RF

The term ‘fat-free’ is also applied as a health benefit on products that wouldn’t contain fat in the first place. Nestlé's Shredded Wheat box contains the health advice: “reducing consumption of saturated fat contributes to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol levels”. This is similar to putting a “water is wet” sign in the middle of the Sahara desert; true but largely irrelevant.

Made with…

UK law mandates that prepackaged foods must have a quantitative declaration of ingredients if the ingredient “appears in the name of the food or is usually associated with that name by the consumer, is emphasised on the labelling in words, pictures or graphics; or is essential to characterise a food and to distinguish it from products with which it might be confused because of its name or appearance”.

Rules are less clear about how much of a product is required to say it was “made with” a certain ingredient. “In a product that contains 95 per cent wholegrains versus a product that contains, say, 60 per cent, the amount of B vitamins and fibre are going to be vastly different,” says Hope. “So just because something says ‘wholegrains’ or whatever ingredient quite prominently, you should always read the label and compare it to other products which make the same claim.”

No nutrition information on alcohol

Whether you’re enjoying a glass of wine or a pint, it’s easy to forget about the calories contained therein. That’s because, unlike other food and drink products, if a beverage has an alcohol by volume percentage higher than 1.2 then “no nutrition information need be given”, according to the UK’s Food Standards Agency.

“The alcohol industry has messed up self-regulation,” says Dr Richard Piper, chief executive of Alcohol Change UK. “Alcohol-free drinks have to put nutrition information, plus ingredients on their labels. Something like Seedlip [an upmarket alcohol replacement] has to print this information, whereas if they added some gin they’d get to hide whatever they wanted. It’s bonkers that the more dangerous drinks become, the less information you have to provide.”

How to avoid getting bamboozled by labels

If you’re not an expert, the labels on food packaging can be confusing to navigate. “My top advice is to just focus on one aspect of nutrition which is important to you,” Hope says.

“If you’re looking to lose weight, then focus on calories. If you’re trying to lower your cholesterol, then focus on the saturated fat; if your blood pressure is the problem, focus on salt. Keep it simple and don’t try to do everything at once.

“Also keep an eye on portion sizes. You don’t have to stick to them – if you want to eat a whole packet of Haribo, that’s fine, but just make sure you eat a bit less tomorrow, for instance.”