All-natural, organic honey & oats? Sounds better than sugar & carbs. Honey in its liquid form metabolizes even faster than table sugar. And how much salt? How many calories?
“Free range, grass-fed, organic” -- and just as much saturated fat and cholesterol
“Natural,” Organic,” “Healthy” often Food Industry Scam Words?
Some top nutritionists are cracking down on manufacturers’ use of catch-words like “natural,” “healthy,” and “organic.” Those terms also mean thick, white, saturated animal fat, and salt, and most of the world's poisons like arsenic and strychnine, and oh-so-natural nicotine, heroin, and cocaine.
“Ask ten different people what ‘natural’ on a food label means and you’ll likely hear ten different answers,” says Karen Collins, M.S., R.D., CDN, who serves as nutrition advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR).
“Most people will probably assume that the food is healthier. They are usually surprised – maybe even indignant – to discover that for most foods, ‘natural’ on the label can be nutritionally insignificant. The term ‘natural’ may sound like the embodiment of everything you want in a food to promote good health, but it does not address recommendations to limit saturated fat and sodium.”
“Natural” on the label isn’t any help if you’re looking for a heart-healthy food either. Given that the fat in butter and meat is natural, a food can be loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol and still be “natural.”
A food labeled “natural” also has nothing to do with its sugar content. Just as salt is natural, sugar and honey are too, because nothing artificial is added during processing from their original form. The FDA even has no choice but to allow a “natural” label for High Fructose Corn Syrup as long as it is produced without adding synthetic ingredients.
But fructose has become the biggest bait-and-switch gimmick in years, causing serious health damage to the body. Irony: with its longer shelf life & the fact that it’s cheaper, fructose has become the trans fat of the sugar family. But it’s natural.
For best health, take all labels with a grain of salt. Then skip the salt.
Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN, is a registered dietitian, speaker, and writer who serves as nutrition advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). She writes two weekly columns, "Nutrition Notes" and "Nutrition-Wise," which are carried weekly on the MSNBC web site and syndicated to more than 700 newspapers nationwide.
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