LOW FAT? Food labeling may come to this. (Photos.com)
For example, a food product can be advertised as “low in saturated fat” or “cholesterol free,” but there is no good evidence that eating less of these particular foodstuffs has broad benefits for health. The “benefits” of eating a food low in saturated fat and cholesterol are, I think, perceptual more than based on any form of fact.
Also, even if dietary saturated fat and cholesterol had been proven to be detrimental to health, it does not necessarily make a food with low levels of these substances in it automatically healthy. For example, cow dung could be labeled “low in saturated fat” and “cholesterol free,” but that does not make it good to eat.
The Daily Telegraph reported in April on the proposed European legislation regarding the labeling of food [1]. The story informs us that the U.K. consumer watchdog Which? warns that if proposed labeling laws are taken up, more than 90 percent of food products would be able to make some nutrition claim or other. Essentially, according to Which?, the thresholds under which claims can be made about things such as fat and sugar content are just set too high. We are facing a situation where we could see doughnuts and burgers being advertised and marketed as “low fat.”
This news report contains a quote from a spokesman for the U.K.’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) telling us, “The FSA’s view is that we must ensure that health claims do not mislead consumers. Draft proposals are being discussed by all member states at an EC level, and we are pushing actively for legislation which puts consumers’ interests first.”
I was a bit surprised by this because the FSA’s track record does not suggest this organization always puts consumers’ interests first. I believe the agency continues to mislead the public about what is good and not so good to eat.
It warns, for instance, about the perils of saturated fat despite no good evidence this is the demon it’s made out to be. And it continues to try to convince us of the “value” of starchy carbohydrates despite the fact that many of these tend to disrupt blood sugar and insulin levels in a way that predisposes to conditions such as weight gain, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.
I noticed the other day that Sam Montel, resident nutritionist on the FSA Web site, writes, in response to a question on raisins: “Other healthy snacks include … currant buns without icing, scones, or tea cakes.”
Behind this, there is some evidence of the FSA having a closer than healthy relationship with the food industry, for example, the clear conflicts of interests those members of the former FSA Advisory Committee on Research had. This committee, whose role is to advise the FSA on matters of science and research, included a full-time employee of the food company Unilever. The chair of the committee also received funding from Unilever. As an addendum to this, I suppose it’s worth pointing out that Dame Deirdre Hutton, chair of the FSA, owns shares in Unilever [2].
Such conflicts of interest would not be so troublesome if the FSA appeared to be giving us honest, impartial, evidence-based advice about what we should eat. But, in my view, they have failed miserably here.
The FSA, as some of you know, also has some history of its own in the food-labeling arena. A while back, it introduced its “traffic light” labeling scheme, which rated foods as green, amber, or red on account of their sugar, salt, saturated fat, and overall fat content. The FSA’s traffic light scheme enables oven chips to get four green lights, and therefore an implied stamp of approval, from the [U.K.] government, as something good to eat. The FSA is right to be wary of the proposed European food labeling laws, but I reckon it needs to sharpen up its own act in that area too.
References:
1. “Doughnuts ‘could soon be advertised as low fat’”: telegraph.co.uk/news/5208893/Doughnuts-could-soon-be-advertised-as-low-fat.html
2. Food Standards Agency: food.gov.uk/aboutus/ourboard/boardmem/damedeirdrehutton/
Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and health writer with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His Web site is drbriffa.com