Supermarket Maze

The task of choosing foods that are healthy and nutritious can nowadays be very confusing. There are simply many more products on our supermarket shelves today than ever before. Food manufacturers employ a range of marketing strategies to ensure their products stand out from the crowd. Endorsements from celebrities and organisations and words like "lite", "97% fat free", "no added sugar", "cholesterol free", "low carb", "pure", are splashed across packaging. A new draft food standard may also see health claims being allowed on food packaging and advertising. This article will examine some of the common marketing tools used in selling food products as well as reiterate the basics of achieving a well-balanced diet.

Common terms and what they mean

Reduced fat
This term means the product has at least 25% less fat than the regular product (1). The term 'reduced fat' can be misleading though as consumers sometimes take 'reduced fat' to mean low in fat. If the product is normally very high in fat (eg. dairy products like some cheeses or cream), then the reduced fat version will still be a high fat product. For example, a regular cheddar cheese contains 33g of fat per 100g. The reduced fat version still has 15g of fat per 100g. In addition, reduced fat products sometimes have a higher salt content than the regular version and there is often little difference in overall kilojoules.

Low fat
This term can only be applied to products containing 3g or less of fat per 100g (or 1.5g or less fat per 100ml for a liquid food) (2). The issue with these foods is that they often have other ingredients added to make up for the lack of fat. Sugar is typically used in low fat products to improve the "mouth-feel" of a product. For example, the sugar content of a low fat ice cream is 17% higher than in the regular version.

As well as consuming many kilojoules (due to the extra sugar) people may still consume a significant amount of fat if they eat low fat products in large quantities. People are often also falsely reassured by low fat labelling, believing that you can eat as much as you like of low fat products.

Fat free
Under the new draft standards a product displaying this term will have to meet the requirements for a low fat claim (contain 3g or less of fat per 100g) (3). In effect, therefore, only foods that are 97-100% fat free will be allowed to use this wording. Products displaying the fat free claim generally suffer from the same problems as low fat products (see above). Increasingly this label is being applied to products that you would not expect to contain fat in the first place, such as lollies. This label use is an attempt to shift the focus away from the negative ingredients of the product, in this case the high percentage of sugar.

Lite/light
This terminology is applied to a range of characteristics and is one of the more confusing terms. ‘Light/lite’ can refer to any number of characteristics of a product including colour (eg. olive oil), texture (eg. thinness of potato chips), salt, fat or sugar content. Labels must specify in what way the product is ‘light/lite’ so consumers should read this information carefully. In the new draft food standards lite/light claims concerning a nutrient, energy or salt will have to comply with the conditions for a ‘reduced’ product (ie. be at least 25% less) (4).

Low salt
This term can be used to describe products that contain no more than 120mg of sodium per 100g of food or 100ml of liquid food (5).

Heart Foundation Tick
The Heart Foundation Tick Program involves food manufacturers having their product tested against particular nutrient criteria. An eligible product can then display the Heart Foundation’s Tick symbol. Manufacturers provide a payment to the Heart Foundation for this privilege. Products that feature the Heart Foundation Tick are lower in salt, saturated fat and, in some cases, kilojoules than similar products (6).

Consumers need to remember that as participation in the Tick Program requires payment, there may be products with a similar nutrient content that do not display the symbol. In addition, the Tick Program is designed to provide consumers with a guide to buying healthier food choices which does not always equate to ‘healthy’. For example, some brands of meat pies are included in the Tick Program. While these pies have substantially less saturated fat and salt than many other pies they are still a high fat product.

While consumers are right to believe products carrying the Heart Foundation’s Tick are healthier choices, some may be under the misapprehension that all these products are ‘healthy’ and, therefore, can be eaten as every day foods.

As the Heart Foundation’s Tick Program has been a successful marketing strategy, some food manufacturers are now using similar looking ticks on their product packaging. Consumers should look carefully at any product displaying a tick symbol to determine exactly what it refers to.

GI Index
The Glycemic Index (GI) is used to rank carbohydrates according to how quickly they convert to blood sugar (glucose). Foods that break down quickly are high GI and those that break down slowly are low GI. Foods with a low GI factor are thought to be helpful in maintaining a healthy weight as energy is being released slowly into the bloodstream, making people feel fuller for longer. Low GI is 55 or less, medium GI is 56-69, while high GI is 70 or more (7). As even high GI products can apply to be part of the GI symbol program, consumers need to look carefully at the information that accompanies the symbol and be aware of the meaning of the different values.

The index should not be used in isolation with people substituting one set of numbers for another. For example, watermelon is a relatively high GI food (a value of 72) but this does not mean that it is the same as eating a chocolate bar, another high GI food. As food variety is important eating only low GI foods is also not desirable. The purpose of the index, rather, is that when someone selects fruit, for example, they should include some low GI options (eg. apple 32, peach 42).

Health claims

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) are currently inviting public comment on a draft food standard that would allow two types of health claims, general and high, to be included on food labels and advertisements. A general level claim may "refer to the presence of a nutrient or substance in a food and to its effect on a health function” but “may not refer to a serious disease or condition or to an indicator of serious disease”. An example of a general level claim would be ‘Calcium is good for strong bones and teeth’ (8).

A high level claim can “refer to the presence of a nutrient or substance in a food and its relationship to a serious disease or condition or to an indicator of a serious disease”. An example of a high level claim would be ‘This food is high in calcium. Diets high in calcium may increase bone mineral density’ (9). The manufacturers must hold scientific evidence to substantiate general claims and produce this evidence, on request. In the case of high level claims, manufacturers must provide scientific evidence and obtain pre-market approval from FSANZ.

In the United States, where health claims have been allowed for some time, there have been issues with claims being applied to products which contain a beneficial nutrient but are also high in saturated fat, sugar and/or salt. FSANZ, therefore, have other eligibility requirements which will restrict the use of health claims on foods with these 'risk increasing nutrients'.

While health claims on labels and advertising could help people buy healthier options there is a concern that they may add to the confusion already faced by consumers. As shown by people’s responses to existing food labelling, health claim messages may be misinterpreted by some. Health claims on labels and advertising also favour foods that are packaged. This may result in people overlooking key foods in the prevention of serious disease or indicators of serious disease, such as fruit and vegetables.

Reading the nutrition information panel

With the many terms used in marketing food products, consumers’ best option is to take a closer look at the nutrition information panel. In Australia , all manufactured foods must carry a nutrition information panel. Some exceptions to this are products in very small packages; herbs and spices, tea, coffee, foods packaged at the point of sale and foods sold unpackaged (if a nutrition claim is not made). This nutrition information panel provides information on the levels of: energy (kilojoules); protein; fat (saturated fats and total fat); carbohydrate; sugars (naturally present and added sugar); sodium as well as any nutrient about which a claim is made (eg. fibre, iron, calcium). This information is supplied in a standard format, per serve and per 100g (or 100ml if liquid).

The 100g listing is useful when comparing different products. The serving size listing is designed to provide people with a more meaningful measure based on what they are likely to consume. Some products, however, provide extremely small serve sizes in an attempt to make certain nutrients (ie. fat, sugar, salt) seem lower. Therefore, people need to take into consideration how much of the product they typically eat and adjust the nutrient amounts accordingly.

The nutrition information panel also lists the ingredients in descending order of amount included. In addition, characterising ingredients must be identified as a percentage. Characterising ingredients include: those mentioned in the name of the product; those that the consumer would normally associate with the name of the food (eg. vegetables in a spring roll); and those emphasised on the label in words, pictures or graphics (10). The percentage of a characterising ingredient can be very helpful as it allows consumers to see if the contents of a product are what they expect. Many products, upon closer scrutiny, contain very little characterising ingredient/s. For example, banana baby custard that contains only 1% banana, a guacamole-style dip which only contains 1% avocado and a prawn and crab spread that has only 4.2 % prawn and 0.5% per cent crab.

Checking the percentage of characterising ingredient/s is also important if a person is buying a product because it contains an ingredient they believe has health benefits. Sometimes the amount of the ingredient the product contains is so small the effect would be negligible. For example, a juice being advertised as an immune booster actually only contains 0.03% of Echinacea, a herb said to stimulate the immune system. The recommended dose of Echinacea for the prevention of infection is generally 1500mg a day. A person would need to drink 5 litres of the juice to achieve this dose.

Don’t lose sight of what constitutes a well-balanced diet

Focusing on particular ingredients or nutrients can cause people to lose sight of the basics of what constitutes a good diet. Dr Gyorgy Scrinis comments, "Nutrient-content claims can be highly misleading and distort everyday understanding of what constitutes good foods and good diets" (11). Consumers can become preoccupied with looking at whether products are low fat and so forth and not notice other ingredients such as additives, artificial colours and preservatives. The fact that the product is highly processed is no longer as obvious. There is a need, therefore, to reiterate basic messages about obtaining a well-balanced diet.

Five food groups
People should aim to eat foods from each of the five major food groups, in the appropriate proportions. The five food groups are:

• Breads, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles
  
• Vegetables, legumes
  
• Fruit
  
• Milk, yoghurt, cheese
  
• Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, legumes.
  

There is also an ‘extra foods’ category which includes foods that do not fit into the five categories and should only be eaten sometimes or in small amounts. Foods that fit into the extra category include biscuits, cakes, desserts, pastries, soft drinks, crisps, pies, pasties, sausage rolls and other takeaways, lollies, chocolate, fats and oils.

Daily serves
The number of daily serves of the five food groups needed to achieve a healthy diet for children, adolescents, adults and breast feeding or pregnant women are listed in the table below. There are two preferred eating patterns to allow for individual preference and cultural differences. Eating pattern A is for those who eat more bread, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles. Eating pattern B is for those who eat from the five groups (in proportional amounts to daily serves).

People who are fairly sedentary and/or of small to average size should use the lower number in the range. Those who are active and/or of average to large size should use the higher number. Very large and very active people will need to eat more serves than shown in the tables, while very small and inactive people will need less.

Sample serves from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating suggested for children, adolescents and adults (12).

Sample serve sizes
Many people are confused about what constitutes a ‘serve’. In general, foods are being sold in much larger quantities today than before and often what we consider to be a standard serve may, in fact, be significantly more. Large portion sizes are one of the major contributing factors to overweight and obesity. Below is a list of sample serves of the five food groups and the extra food category.

Sample serve of bread, cereal, rice, pasta, noodles:

• 2 slices of bread
  
• 1 medium bread roll
  
• 1 cup cooked rice, pasta, noodles
  
• 1 cup porridge, 1 1/3 cup breakfast cereal flakes
  
• ½ cup muesli
  

Sample serve of vegetables, legumes:

• 75g or ½ cup cooked vegetables
  
• 75g or ½ cup cooked dried beans, peas or lentils
  
• 1 cup salad vegetables
  
• 1 potato
  

Sample serve of fruit:

• 1 medium piece eg. apple, banana, orange, pear
  
• 2 small pieces eg. apricots, kiwi fruit, plums
  
• 1 cup diced pieces or canned fruit
  
• ½ cup juice
  
• dried fruit eg. 4 dried apricots
  
• 1 ½ tablespoons sultanas
  

Sample serve of milk, yoghurt, cheese:

• 250 ml (1 cup) fresh, long-life or reconstituted powdered milk
  
• ½ cup evaporated milk
  
• 40 g (2 slices) cheese
  
• 200g (1 small carton) yoghurt
  
• 250ml (1 cup) custard
  

Sample serve of meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, legumes:

• 65-100g cooked meat, chicken. eg ½ cup lean mince, 2 small cops or 2 slices roast meat
  
• ½ cup cooked (dried) beans, lentils, chick peas, split peas, or canned beans
  
• 80-120g cooked fish fillet
  
• 2 small eggs
  
• 1/3 cup peanuts or almonds
  
• ¼ cup sunflower seeds or sesame seeds
  

Sample serve of extra foods (providing 600 kilojoules)

• 1 (40g ) doughnut
  
• 4 (35g) plain sweet biscuits
  
• 1 slice (40g) plain cake
  
• ½ small bar (25g) chocolate
  
• 2 tablespoons (40g) cream, mayonnaise
  
• 1 tablespoon (20g) butter, margarine, oil
  
• 200ml wine ( 2 standard drinks)
  
• 60ml spirits (2 standard drinks)
  
• 600ml light beer (1 ½ standard drinks)
  
• 400ml regular beer (1 1.2 standard drinks)
  
• 1 can (375g) soft drink
  
• 1/3 meat (60g) pie or pastie
  
• 12 (60g) hot chips
  
• 1 ½ scoops (50g scoop) icecream (13)

References

1. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand . Draft Assessment Report, Proposal P293: Nutrition, Health and Related Claims 7 December 2005 ; 106
2. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand . Draft Assessment Report, Proposal P293: Nutrition, Health and Related Claims Ibid
3. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand . Draft Assessment Report, Proposal P293: Nutrition, Health and Related Claims Ibid
4. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand . Draft Assessment Report, Proposal P293: Nutrition, Health and Related Claims; 107
5. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand . Draft Assessment Report, Proposal P293: Nutrition, Health and Related Claims;108
6. Heart Foundation. Tick Program http://www.heartfoundation.com.au/index.cfm?page=276
   [website] date accessed: 17 January 2006
7. Glycemic Index and Glycemic Database. What is the Gylcemic Index? http://www.glycemicindex.com/ [website] date accessed: 17 January 2006.
8. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand . Nutrition, Health and Related Claims: A Guide to the Development of a Food Standard for Australia and New Zealand , Executive Summary November 2005; 8
9. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand . Nutrition, Health and Related Claims: A Guide to the Development of a Food Standard for Australia and New Zealand , Executive Summary Ibid
10. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand . Percentage Labelling of Characterising Food Ingredients and Components http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/mediareleasespublications/
    factsheets/industryfactsheetsfsc/percentagelabellingo2163.cfm
    [website] date accessed: 17 January 2006.
11. Gyorgy Scrinis. Labels: An unhealthy trend The Age 30 December 2005
12. Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating: Background Information for Consumers http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/
    Content/health-pubhlth-publicat-document-fdcons-cnt.htm/$FILE/
    fdcons.pdf [website] date accessed 17 January 2006; 20-21
13. Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating: Background Information for Consumers Ibid; 5-15

Further help and information from Women's Health Queensland Wide

Health Information Line:
Our free statewide line is staffed by women's health nurses and midwives. They provide women with up to date information, support and referral to health practitioners and services. Women can contact the Health Information Line by phone or email via the 'Ask a Health Question' page on the website. All phone calls and emails are confidential.
(07) 3839 9988 or 1800 017 676 (toll free outside Brisbane)

Library:
Our free lending library offers a select range of books on major women's health topics. Topic-based booklists are availableon our website, or can be posted out; books can be requested by phone or email and are posted to borrowers.
Contact on administration : (07) 3839 9962

Website:
All our factsheets and booklets are available on our website. The website also features articles on women's health from our newsletter, student factsheets, upcoming events, library services and 'Ask a Health Question' page. A list of reputable links is also available where women can search for further information on health topics.
www.womhealth.org.au

This article was written by Kirsten Braun and reviewed by the Editorial Committee for Health Journey, Vol I 2006.

Please note that this article is an archive. While every effort was made to ensure the information was accurate at the time of publication, the article has not been updated since this time.

Last Modified: March 17, 2006