Feel like you’re spending a lot of time reading in the supermarket lately?
And I’m not talking about the magazines in the checkout line. I mean the food: Beyond the produce aisle, it seems that almost every package is festooned with a health claim—or in the case of certain kids-oriented products, perhaps six or seven of them. Who knew a bunny-shaped cracker could be so complex?
I’m not imagining things: A 2010 study led by the USDA found that 71 percent of products marketed to children had nutrition-specific marketing—and yet, of those, more than half (59%) were high in saturated fat, sodium, and/or sugar content. Even more recent research, out of the University of Houston, showed that people assume foods with health-centric marketing buzzwords on their packaging (like cherry-flavored soda “with antioxidants”) are good for you, regardless of their actual nutritional value. Clearly, there’s a disconnect between what’s being sold to parents and what we think we’re buying.
As I’ve said before, I’m not “above” many foods; my personal philosophy (developed from years of health reporting and a perpetual quest for balance in parenting) is that the processed, sweet, and salty foods that dominate the middle aisles need not be eliminated from the table completely, but allowed in moderation. I do think it’s important to always understand what we’re buying into, however. Unfortunately, given the food industry’s increasing penchant for smoke-and-mirrors health marketing, that takes some detective work. Hence, more time squinting at boxes in the grocery store than you’d probably like (particularly if you have a small, impatient, and hungry child seated in your shopping cart).
I recently took a spin around our local supermarket to get a sense of what health claims tend to dominate the kids’ food aisles in particular. I snapped some photos of labels that came up again and again, and made a chart that breaks down the meaning and value of some of the most common nutritional buzzwords. Arm yourself with this buzzword decoder next grocery-shopping day —you just might find yourself shopping more healthfully, and spending less money, as a result.
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