Part 8: Health Claims and Drinks Based on the book “What to Eat” by Marion Nestle
The real reason for health claims are well established: health claims sell food products. Establishing distinct cutoff points for foods to get endorsements for health associations does not always make sense especially because these foods are normally highly processed. Still if you want an endorsement from the AHA they have made their own criteria and if a packaged food meets it they get the seal of approval: be low in fat (3g or less), be low in saturated fat (1g or less), be low in cholesterol (20mg or less), have a sodium value of less than 480mg, and contain at least 10% DV of one or more of these nutrients: protein, vitamin a, c, calcium, iron, or fiber. Salt is 40% sodium 60% chloride and both of these nutrients are essential, but salt is even more essential for the processed food industry. Adding salt to processed foods constitutes an eat more strategy all on its own; it makes food taste better because it heightens flavors, reduces bitterness, and enhances sweetness. Salt is perfect for processed foods. It is cheap. It keeps foods from becoming discolored and extends shelf life. Even better it binds to water and makes food weigh more so you pay more for heavier packages. Consume less than 2300 mg of sodium per day. Executives at kraft foods, campbell soup, and pepsico tell the author the same thing: their consumer research shows that unless food products are salty enough and reach what the industry calls the bliss point people do not like the way the foods taste. At what point do product tinkerings convert junk food to one that is not? Once you get beyond soft drinks, categorizing foods as junky or not brings up problems that require much splitting of nutritional hairs. Some crackers, chips, and cookies are better than others but deciding among them puts you on a nutritional slippery slope. If you love junk food, by all means eat and enjoy it just not too much at a time and not too often and without kidding yourself that it's good for you. Let’s chat about oils quickly. All salad and cooking oils are from vegetable sources but otherwise unidentified vegetable oils are from soybeans. There are lots of health claims on oils so be aware of those, most of them don't make any sense because some oils don't have things like cholesterol in them anyway, but the companies want you to see that as if it makes it better. Omega 6 fatty acids commonly occur in grains and seeds and you get plenty of them in seeds and nuts and avocados which also come with a good balance of omega 9s. The omega 3s show up in leafy green veggies in small amounts but those add up quickly. Fish is the greatest source but chicken and eggs are also. Flax seed is better than oil. Olive oils and avocado oils are better than the rest of them. Overall, look for oils in dark bottles or cans and use them up long before they lose life (go rancid) and well as taste. Jumping quickly over to a new subject…drinks. Bottled water is expensive enough (should be free) but beverage companies can sell it at a higher price by adding minerals and they can sell it at an even higher price by adding vitamins and herbal supplements and then by promoting the health benefits of these additions. Smartwater is advertised as an electrolyte enhanced health food even though any veggie would be a better source of its few added minerals. Gatorade is one of the biggest sports drinks but if you take a look at their ingredients you'll find it's not more than flavored sugar water with a few minerals added in. you are better off eating food to get the amount of electrolytes lost at a higher amount than what any sports drink can provide. In moderation juices are good for you, but a walk through grocery store juice aisles can be confusing. Supermarkets stock juices in three places: the freezer (concentrate), in the fridge (fresh juice), and in the drink section for shelf stable juices. You can take your pick from fresh 100% juice to juice flavored sugar water with no fruit in it at all. On the basis of taste and nutritional value, the priority order for juices is: fresh squeezed, squeezed and pasteurized, and reconstituted from concentrate.
