Food label fibs that could be making you fat
It's easy to toss a product into your trolley because it says 'light', 'reduced fat' or 'diet', but do you actually understand what those terms mean? The truth about their healthiness, and their lasting effect on your diet, might surprise you.
'Only 5% fat'
According to healthy eating guidelines no more than 30% of the calories we eat should come from fat, so food products that proudly display packaging declaring themselves to be 5%, 10% or even 15% are well below that right? Wrong. This is because these percentages refer to the 'weight' of the food not the percentage of calories within the food that come from fat. Therefore, although you can rest assured that a product claiming to be 5% fat will only have five grams of fat per 100 grams of weight in calorific terms the product could still be at least 30% fat or above.
For example:
A certain brand of oven chips is advertised as 5% fat because it contains just under five grams of fat per 100g of chips — all perfectly legal and above board as far as labelling laws are concerned. However, in terms of calories these chips contain five times that amount. How can that be? Because according to the nutritional label 100g of chips contains 172 calories, we know that five of those 100 grams are fat so to find out what that equates to in calories simply multiply five by nine (because fat contains nine calories per gram). Result? 45 calories and 45 as a percentage of 172 equals 26% - more than five times the percentage advertised on the packet!
'Lite' or 'light' foods
Watch out for the way that foods are described too. The words 'lite' or 'light' might lead you to assume that they are either low in calories or low in fat. However, neither is necessarily true as current labelling law allows manufacturers to use the term on products that may simply be lighter in colour or texture than another similar product. Many leading brands of 'light' mayonnaise still contain over 90% fat.
'Reduced fat' foods
Similarly, be careful of terms such as 'reduced fat'. This does not necessarily mean 'low fat', just that the product has a reduced fat content to other similar versions. Consequently, crisps advertised as 'reduced fat' may still be more than 50% fat.
'Slimming foods'
The same is also true of many 'slimming', 'healthy living' or 'calorie controlled' products. It may be reasonable to expect foods that are advertised as being beneficial to slimmers to have fewer calories, less fat and maybe even less sugar but don't bet on it. It's not unusual for some 'diet' versions of foods such as ready meals, crisps and snacks to have, weight for weight, more calories, fat or sugar than other 'non slimming' varieties. Sometimes the only factor that makes a product more suitable for the slimming market is that it is sold in smaller quantities. For example, chocolate bars marketed to slimmers may have more calories, weight for weight, than normal chocolate, only the size of the bar is smaller - and then some manufacturers can charge consumers up to 100% more for the privilege!
Get label savvy at a glance
Use this chart below for a simple guide to the nutritional content of foods
