Posts Tagged ‘health claims’

Health Claims Running Rampant

The advancement of technology has given impetus to the marketing machine of major food manufactures. Their health claims are running rampant.

False Health Claims

Following a second action in 12 months by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for making false claims about a product, the leading cereal maker Kellogg has agreed to new advertising restriction.

They said the company has agreed to expand a settlement order reached after the Commission alleged that the cereal maker has falsely claimed there was clinical evidence that its Frosted Mini-Wheat Cereal improved children’s attentiveness by nearly 20 per cent.

Could it be the trans fats, sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, or sodium, that provides such a boost. Wow, all the kids in American should be real attentive.

Trans Fats

Food manufactures use trans fats in products to optimize taste, appearance, texture and shelf life. These fats are formed when liquid oils are made into solid fats like shortening and margarine during a process known as hydrogenation.

Kellogg defends their use of trans fats by saying trans fat is similar to saturated fat because it has also been found to raise low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol, which can increase your risk of coronary heart disease.

What they left out is crucial: The trans fat molecule is different from the saturated fat molecule.

(1) Saturated fatty acids raise HDL cholesterol, the so-called good cholesterol, whereas the trans fatty acids lower HDL cholesterol;

(2) Saturated fatty acids lower the blood levels of the atherogenic lipoprotein [a], whereas trans fatty acids raise the blood levels of lipoprotein [a];

(3) Saturated fatty acids conserve the good omega-3 fatty acids, whereas trans fatty acids cause the tissues to lose these omega-3 fatty acids;

(4) Saturated fatty acids do not inhibit insulin binding, whereas trans fatty acids do inhibit insulin binding;

(5) Saturated fatty acids do not increase C-reactive protein, but trans fatty acids do increase C-reactive protein causing arterial inflammation;

(6) saturated fatty acids are the normal fatty acids made by the body, and they do not interfere with enzyme functions such as the delta-6-desaturase, whereas trans fatty acids are not made by the body, and they interfere with many enzyme functions such as delta-6-desaturase; and

(7) Some saturated fatty acids are used by the body to fight viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, and they support the immune system, whereas trans fatty acids interfere with the function of the immune system.

This is from the Ban Trans Fats website.

Another Problem

Food manufactures can list no trans fats on their label and still use it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in this case the fake disappearing agenda; guidelines specify that percentages should be rounded up if over 0.5 grams per serving or down if under. If the amount of tras fats is less than half a gram(0.5) per serving, FDA labeling guidelines state that the Nutrition Facts label must show the total amount of trans fats per serving as zero grams (0 grams).

This amounts to 1/20 of a teaspoon of trans fat per serving. What’s the problem with this? One serving is stated to be a cup, how many kids snack on sweet cereals and go over a cup. If you have a diet of packaged foods and they all claim no trans fat, you can be ingesting a good amount.

Now for kids the issue is this will be for a lifetime, add it up, and they will be consuming too much trans fats.

Last But Not Least

 The label ingredients from the strawberry Mini-Frosted Wheats

WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, SUGAR, STRAWBERRY FLAVORED CRUNCHLETS (SUGAR, CORN CEREAL, CORN SYRUP, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED AND/OR SOYBEAN OIL, CITRIC ACID, GLYCERIN, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, RED #40, BLUE #2), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL STRAWBERRY AND CREME FLAVOR, SORBITOL, GELATIN, REDUCED IRON, NIACINAMIDE, ZINC OXIDE, RED #40, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), FOLIC ACID, BLUE #1, AND VITAMIN B12. TO MAINTAIN QUALITY, BHT HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE PACKAGING.

Make better decisions, these are empty claims, and a marketing campaign that seems like pure baloney.