"Healthy" Labeling

In an attempt to be healthy for the Holidays many people follow the labels. They believe the big words printed on the front that say healthy: No trans fat! No added MSG!, but little do they realize that labels lie!

When it comes to labels that say zero grams of trans fat it means: that under FDA regulations, "if the serving contains less than 0.5 gram (of trans fat), the content, when declared, shall be expressed as zero." That means a product can have .499 grams of trans fat per serving and still be listed as having none. So if you eat more the the couple potato chips that are in one serving you could be getting a lot more trans fat than you bargained for. Look for ingredients that say “shortening” or “partially hydrogenated” on these labels, if they are there then there is most likely trans fat.

Think buying a low sodium product means you are healthy? Take for example low sodium V8 Juice; it may look like a healthy snack but as you read the ingredients you get down to: natural flavoring, disodium guanylate, and disodium inosinate. What are these ingredients you may ask? Disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate are two more expensive food additives which are almost never used without the less expensive food additive mono sodium glutamate (MSG) which is often listed as natural flavorings. Below is a short list of things that MSG is labeled as:

Food label names that always contain some MSG:
monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed protein, monopotassium glutamate, textured protein, glutamate, hydrolyzed oat flour, glutamic acid, yeast nutrient, gelatin, autolyzed yeast, calcium caseinate, yeast extract, sodium caseinate, yeast food, Accent, Glutavene, and Ajinomoto (in Oriental foods)

Food label names that often contain MSG, or create MSG during processing:
malt extract, carrageenan, malt flavoring, bouillon, barley malt, broth, maltodextrin, stock, whey protein, natural beef flavoring, protein isolate, natural chicken flavoring, protein concentrate, natural pork flavoring, protein, fortified flavoring, pectin, natural flavoring, protease enzymes, seasoning, enzymes, soy sauce, protease, sauce extract, enzyme modified, fermented, and ultrapasteurized.


It is important to remember that as your reading labels the advertising on the front of the product is just that, advertising! To discover if something is really healthy you need to read the ingredients! The more ingredients the more likely there is something lurking in your food that you don’t want. Have everything in moderation this Thanksgiving and remember to be Thankful for the people in your life you get to share a healthy meal with!