The Deception of Healthy Food Products: Part III

(A Blog Series by Chef Maika)
Consumer deception to buy a product is the number one goal of marketers to bring in the profits. They might not lay it all out to you that way, but, this is in fact what they are doing. In addition, once you put one and one together, the truth will come out. Marion Nestle shares this finding and points out “The foods that sell best and bring in the most profits are not necessarily the ones that are best for your health, and the conflict between health and business goals is at the root of public confusion about food choices” (7). However, if you were strolling down your grocery aisle, this controversy would not pop into your head. You shop with confidence. “Hey, I know whole grain is good for me, I will buy whole grain bread”. Then you instantly find that amazing popular brand of bread you see every day on television that says “Made with 100% Whole Grain!” How simple was that? Sorry to disappoint you, but did you ever notice how much sugar that product contains? Now, wouldn’t that defeat the whole reason why you bought the bread in the first place? The food marketers got you! I stumbled upon a website called “On the Menu: Nutrition Consultants to the Food Industry”. I was astonished to read the following, “Here are some proven ways we establish a health conscious image without compromising the creativity of your food product.” (On The Menu, LLC, 2004). In others words, “Give us your sour gummy bears and we will market them as Fat-Free with Vitamin C! Even though, they are saturated in glucose syrup and other crazy complex sugars that can stick to your mouth and cause tooth decay!” And guess what, it doesn’t stop there. Did you know with foods labeled Low-Free, you are more inclined to eat 50% more of the product than you would regularly? Taking on more than 90% more in calories (Helm, 2006)? You were thinking guilt free, so you ate more; which eventually gets you nowhere when it comes to losing weight. Again, that’s why it’s so important not to turn on your auto-search pilot brain driver when going down the food aisle when making important nutritional decisions. You must use your nutrition knowledge to get what is more beneficial to you, not what a marketer tells you. In Marion Nestlé’s book “Food Politics”, it breaks down the whole system on how far marketers have gone. They didn’t just stop at consumers; they went all the way to the United States House of Representatives where advocate lobbyists were present pressuring governments for favorable regulations and the White House for favorable trade agreements (95). Whoa! I almost felt like I was in another world! Everything around me is simply not what it seems anymore. You & I have been influenced whether right or wrong, to buy those products. High demand for health products are actually created by the demands of consumers who were influenced by the health products marketers themselves. Could you believe that a market company would actually pay $60,000 each time for their product to be placed in a television program series (Zied, 2006)? Well believe it. Don’t believe the hype, get your facts straight. I’m not trying to sound like a schizophrenic when I say “They are coming to get you!” This is just how the marketing world works and it is your responsibility to learn how to decipher the truth. Dr. Robert Osgoodby agrees, stating you have “to learn how to properly read product labels and interpret marketing catch phrases.” For example, they may state only 100 calories per serving on that muffin package. But did you look to see how much serving is for that one package? Look, it says 4 servings. So basically, you are only allowed to have one bite, and have to save the rest for tomorrow! In reality, no one is going to do that!