What Food Labels Don’t Tell You

As someone who is passionate about health, fitness, and policies surrounding these subjects, I often find myself frustrated by how difficult it can be for the average consumer to make dietary choices. While there has been progress in nutrition transparency as a whole due to added calorie counts on many food menus around the U.S, there is still a long way to go. Misleading marketing, hidden ingredients, and calories that just don’t add up make it unnecessarily hard for people to take control of their health. 

One of the biggest issues that I have discovered has been loopholes in food labeling laws that allow companies to deceive consumers.

Many people assume that if a product is marketed as “healthy” or “natural,” it must be good for them. However, food manufacturers take advantage of vague terminology to trick consumers into thinking their products are healthier than they actually are. The primary examples of this are:

Serving size manipulation: By shrinking serving sizes, companies can artificially lower calorie and sugar counts on the label, making foods seem less unhealthy than they actually are.

Hidden sugars: Many products use multiple types of sugars to avoid listing “sugar” as a top ingredient, even though the total sugar content is still high.

Fraud “protein” sources: Just because a product has “high protein” in the label doesn’t mean it's a good source of protein. Many protein bars and snacks rely on low quality, incomplete protein rather than complete sources such as whey or casein.

Misleading Calorie-free claims: Foods labeled as “zero calories” can have up to five calories per serving. Over time, these add up, especially when artificially sweetened drinks and snacks become a staple in someone’s diet.

Why does this matter in public health?

We are in the middle of a massive health crisis, with obesity and metabolic diseases on a constant uprise. While personal responsibility does play a role in health choices, the system is stacked up against consumers. When companies go out of their way to make the real nutritional content of their products much more complicated than they actually are, they make it harder for people to make good decisions.

Research has shown that clearer food labels lead to better dietary choices. In countries with stricter labeling laws, such as Chile and Canada, people consistently consume less overall sugar and processed food. If the U.S adopted similar regulations, such as front of package warning labels for high sodium and high sugar foods, it could help curb many prominent diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Here are a few policy changes that I believe could improve food transparency in the U.S:

1.     Standardized front of package labels, instead of small and confusing nutrition labels on the back, allow for clear indications of products that contain high amounts of sugar, sodium, or unhealthy fats.

2.     Tighter regulations on wording, such as “healthy” and “high protein” should be strictly regulated and require evidence

3.     Realistic serving sizes that reflect what people will actually eat rather than an artificially small portion that downplays calorie and sugar counts.

4.     Total sugar content should be more prominently displayed, and different names for sugar should not be allowed to disguise its presence

If we are serious about improving public health, we need to stop letting food companies trick us into making unhealthy decisions. The U.S has made a lot of progress in requiring clearer nutrition labels, but there’s still much room for improvement. Stronger food labeling laws are a necessary step toward making healthier choices more accessible for everyone.