{"id":12736,"date":"2023-11-03T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T20:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/?p=12736"},"modified":"2023-11-06T09:47:13","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T14:47:13","slug":"decoding-health-claims-in-food-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/decoding-health-claims-in-food-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Decoding Health Claims in Food Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

DISCLAIMER: This post was researched and written by a high school volunteer; all opinions, claims, and conclusions contained within the below article are those of said volunteer and not necessarily reflective of the viewpoints of Seeds of Diversity \/ Youth in Food Systems and should not be taken as facts. Please refer to Sources (end of article) for more information.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Written by Declan Murphy
\nEdited by Julia Georgescu
\nDesigned by Kiritika Rana
\nPublished by Rayna Almas<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

M<\/span>ost of us want to eat healthy, but it\u2019s sometimes hard to tell what is healthy and what\u2019s not. This is made even more complicated by food marketing and its health claims, which can sometimes lead us to believe some foods are better for us than they are.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Studies have shown that having more information about health and nutrition can lead to healthier choices and healthier lives. However, misleading health and nutrition claims by food manufacturers can make people eat more of some things they should really limit. This is particularly true in regard to snack foods.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us compare the health and nutrition claims of two popular snack products: Lay\u2019s Classic regular potato chips and Sensible Portions sea salt flavoured Garden Veggie Straws. While most of us would select Lay’s potato chips as the \u201cunhealthy\u201d snack between these two, is that really true? How would we know?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sensible Portions clearly market their \u201cveggie straws\u201d as a relatively healthy alternative to potato chips and other popular snack foods, but are they?<\/span><\/p>\n

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There are 160 calories in one 28-gram serving of Lay\u2019s regular potato chips, with 37.5% of its calories (60) being from carbs, 56.6% (90) of these calories from fat, and only 5% (or about 8 calories) being from protein. Each serving contains 170 mg of sodium. The fact that more than 50% of its calories come from fat, and the relatively low nutritional value compared to its calories, means that this food is a \u201cchoose less often\u201d food, rather than something that should be consumed regularly.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, since potato chips are generally not considered \u201chealth food,\u201d most informed consumers should probably understand this going in. Compared with our next product, Lay\u2019s makes relatively few health claims about its product.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sensible Portions makes several claims about their veggie straws, including their lack of artificial flavours or preservatives, as well as being gluten-free, which all seem to be accurate. They also claim to contain \u201c30% less fat than the leading potato chip,\u201d though no specific brand or type of potato chip is specified. Nevertheless, the veggie straws contain 7g of fat per portion, compared to the 10g of fat found in a serving of Lay\u2019s Classic chips. A serving of veggie straws also contains 30 fewer calories than Lay\u2019s Classic chips, which might make it seem like a healthier alternative, as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, their use of the word \u201cveggie\u201d (as well as the inclusion of \u201cgarden\u201d before veggie straws on the packaging) is likely meant to make you feel like you are eating something nutritious and healthy. These terms might make veggie straws seem more like real food than mere salty snack products. While they do contain beet, spinach and tomato pastes or powders, they contain no fiber and are primarily made with potato starch. This means that this snack is not comparable to snacking on plain vegetables.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veggie straws also contain less protein than Lay\u2019s chips, with only 3.07% (4 calories) of its calories coming from protein. Only 48.46% (63) come from fat, (though that is still a high percentage compared to other snack options), and 52.30% (68) of its calories come from carbohydrates. Veggie straws also contain 220 mg of sodium, 50 mg more than Lay\u2019s, and exceed most recommended daily sodium intake values!<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Healthline (2021), veggie straws are \u201cnot much different from other chips that are often criticized for their low nutritional value.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The point here is not that we should eat Lay\u2019s instead of veggie straws, or that Lay\u2019s doesn\u2019t come with consequences to one\u2019s health. Rather that health claims made in the branding and marketing of veggie straws tend to obscure the fact that they are also a \u201csometimes food,\u201d and not significantly better for our health than plain potato chips.<\/span><\/p>\n

Health claims made in marketing campaigns, even when they are accurate, do not necessarily mean that a type of\u00a0 food is \u201chealthy\u201d. We should still read and compare the labels carefully to understand how to appropriately portion and limit them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Awareness of food marketing is a vital blending of media literacy and food knowledge that can help you understand the ways in which branding and advertising influence eating habits and choices. These skills can help you be aware when you are being targeted by food marketing and can help you remember to rely on nutrition labels rather than advertisements. It can also help you guide younger children and other people who are particularly vulnerable to food marketing.<\/span><\/p>\n

It can be difficult to make healthy decisions. Information seems to be constantly changing, and we are barraged with marketing claims that can be challenging to interpret. Whatever the packaging or advertisements say, we should read labels carefully to understand what they mean and apply the best information we have available to maintain a healthy diet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sources:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Charles Alexis, A. (October 14, 2021).\u00a0 <\/span>Veggie Straws: Are They Healthy? Pros, Cons, Nutrition<\/span><\/a>. Healthline.<\/span><\/p>\n

Government of Canada. (2020). <\/span>Healthy eating recommendations – Canada’s Food Guide<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Government of Canada. (n.d.) <\/span>Marketing can influence your food choices<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hanbor12. (2013.) <\/span>File:Guide to Healthy Eating 2013.jpg – Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Lay\u2019s. (2023.) <\/span>LAY’S\u00ae Classic Potato Chips<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Murphy, D. (2023.) Images: Original infographic images, making use from images taken from <\/span>Veggie Straws \u2013 Sensible Portions<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>LAY’S\u00ae Classic Potato Chips<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oostenbach, L. H., Slits, E., Robinson, E., & Sacks, G. (2019). Systematic review of the impact of nutrition claims related to fat, sugar and energy content on food choices and energy intake. <\/span>BMC Public Health<\/span><\/i>, 19(1), 1-11.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sensible Portions. (2022). <\/span>Veggie Straws \u2013 Sensible Portions<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Valente, L. (February 16, 2021).\u00a0 <\/span>Are Veggie Straws and Chips Healthier Than Potato Chips?<\/span><\/a> EatingWell.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Studies have shown that having more information about health and nutrition can lead to healthier choices and healthier lives. However, misleading health and nutrition claims by food manufacturers can make people eat more of some things they should really limit. This is particularly true in regard to snack foods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12736"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12736"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12744,"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12736\/revisions\/12744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}