Industry trends suggest that there is a heightened interest in low-carbohydrate, high-protein, reduced-fat and fat-free foods diets.
And in response, food manufacturers have rapidly revised food products and package claims to seemingly reduce the carbohydrate content of their products and increase consumer demand for them. Aggressive marketing schemes imply that these products are healthier alternatives to standard high-carb fare and that they promote weight loss. The convenience of these foods packaged as value meals and ready-to-eat frozen entrees, makes the challenge of consuming a healthier diet all the more difficult. Add to that is the fact that they are often alot cheaper than fresh vegetables and fruits.
Restaurants have also been following the trend, incorporating purportedly low-carb entrees on their menus to accommodate demand for healthier meals when dining away from home. Yet in the midst of all this, obesity and associated illnesses such as diabetes continue to grow and questions remain as to just how the food industry can assist in promoting healthy eating habits.
The core of the problem lies with food, drink, and associated companies whose profits depend on products that damage public health and that also have damaging social, economic, and environmental impacts. For any business to succeed, it must sustain and increase annual turnover and profit. And in this a market-driven economy, the food industry can be expected to act opportunistically in the interests of maximizing profit. Problems however arise when society fails to perceive this situation accurately.
For diabetics who are counting carbohydrates or attempting to lose weight, the current marketplace can be a source of a great deal of misinformation, causing considerable confusion, and possibly affecting glycemic control. Labels are just about the only thing that gives diabetics an idea of what they are consuming and like all of us, usually assume the ingredients listed on food products are factual in terms of what is actually in the product. Be warned however that some products, though advertised as perfect for you, may not be as healthy as you think!
You may ask: If the Nutrition Facts section on food packaging list all the substances that go into a food product, how can I not know what I’m eating? One of the most common tricks used by producers is to distribute sugars among many ingredients so that sugars don’t appear in the top three. For example, a manufacturer may use a combination of sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup solids, brown sugar, dextrose and other sugar ingredients to make sure none of them are present in large enough quantities to attain a top position on the ingredients list (ingredients are listed in order of their proportion in the food, with the most common ingredients listed first). This leads consumers into thinking the food product isn’t really made mostly of sugar while, in reality, the majority ingredients could all be different forms of sugar and you could end up consuming more sugar that you really should be.
Another trick is to list healthy ingredients like berries, herbs or superfoods that are in reality often only present in miniscule amounts. This trick is called “label padding” and it is commonly used by junk food manufacturers who want to jump on the health food bandwagon without actually producing healthy foods. You also see this in personal care products where companies claim to offer “herbal” products that have practically no detectable levels of real herbs in them.
As a consumer you should also be on the lookout for seemingly innocent but truthfully unwholesome ingredients. The highly carcinogenic ingredient sodium nitrite, for example, sounds perfectly innocent, but it is well documented to cause brain tumors, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer and many other cancers.
And you should also exercise caution when purchasing foods labeled as “diabetic” or “suitable for diabetics”. Some people might see ‘diabetic’ labelling as a stamp of approval, and think that the food is beneficial or even essential for people with diabetes. ‘Diabetic’ labelling tends to be used on sweets, biscuits and similar foods. The main concern is that labelling these types of foods as ‘diabetic’ undermines important messages about healthy eating. You should also note that ‘diabetic’ foods tend to cost more than conventional products, sugar-free and reduced-sugar versions and you may actually be spending more than you need to. The Diabetes UK and the Food Standards Agency are calling for an end to the use of terms such as ‘diabetic’ or ‘suitable for diabetics’ on food labels.
For those who pull out their calculators to calculate those carbs to get the actual sugars that affect your blood level, here is another fact for you. Many food manufacturers have created their own terminology for carbohydrate content that they claim has minimal effect on blood glucose. They suggest that consumers subtract carbohydrate contributed from sugar alcohols, fiber, and glycerin from the total carbohydrate value on the Nutrition Facts panel of packaged foods to determine the “net carbs,” “impact carbs,” “effective carbs,” or “net effective carbs” of these foods. While these terms sound slightly different, they are used by manufacturers to mean essentially the same thing. This calculation can substantially underestimate the actual carbohydrate value in many products and may result in insulin errors for people using carbohydrate counting to determine their insulin dosages. In addition, individuals with type 2 diabetes following a low-carb regimen for weight loss may erroneously interpret these “disappearing carbs” to mean “disappearing calories,” as well.
There is no doubt that appropriate checks and balances are needed to align the financial interests of the food industry with the goals of public health. In the mean time though consumers should note that they themselves have ultimate control over what they chose to eat and should therefore make high sugar, high fat andhig caloric foods only a small part of a healthy balanced diet.
