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Monday, 27 August 2012

Motivation Monday: Diet foods:How credible are the claims?


Supermarket isles are filled with options for the dieting population: diet drinks, low-fat snacks, low calorie desserts and the list goes on.  Before you burst into hoorays, let’s examine the credibility of some of these items.
In a recent post on the Today MSNBC news website entitled Rossen Reports: Can you believe diet frozen dessert labels?  Jeff Rossen and Robert Powell made a startling claim, stating “tests show that some products have up to 68 percent more calories than labels promise”.   Popular ‘diet’ foods were submitted to an experiment, the aim of which was to uncover just how true to claim the diet foods were.  Were they in fact lower in calories as advertised?
At EMSL Analytical Incorporated, described by the authors as a “top food laboratory”, nine products stood the test.  Skinny Cow Cookies n' Cream Truffle Bar, Stonyfield Minty Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt, Ben & Jerry's Fro-Yo Half-Baked had less calories than was advertised.  Ben & Jerry's Fro-Yo Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Stonyfield's Creme Caramel Frozen Yogurt had more calories than advertised but were within 10 percent of their claim.  Three other frozen delicacies exceeded their claims by a little less than 20 percent.   The Arctic Zero Vanilla Maple sample boasted 46 percent more calories than the label advertised while the Chocolate Peanut Butter had 68 percent more calories than advertised.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations make allowance for packaged products to underreport up to 20 percent of their stated claim on food labels.  This is to “account for variations in portions”.
This is misleading.  Many persons buy into what they see advertised on food labels.  This is a violation of consumer trust.
The safe way to lose and maintain weight is to eat whole foods(whole grains, legumes and nuts, vegetables and fruits, and lean meats sparingly)-foods that are nutrient dense, high in fibre, low in saturated fat and low in sugar in conjunction with regular physical activity.   Foods that make incredulous claims are probably that-too good to be true.  Food portion control is a far safer way to indulge the appetite for foods perceived as less healthy on occasion.

Next week on Motivation Monday, Food Portion Control will be the topic of discussion:  How much is too much?

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