Dr. Mark Hyman explains how food companies use misleading health claims to market processed foods as nutritious. He argues the food industry deceives consumers with chemical engineering and marketing tactics, and advocates eating real whole foods instead.
Should we buy food with health claims on the label? Hi, this is Dr. Mark Hyman. Welcome back to my blog. These days we're seeing more and more health claims that go beyond the old low-fat claims such as trans-fat free foods, gluten-free foods, heart-healthy foods, Food spiked with vitamins such as my new favorite, Diet Coke Plus. A great new way to get your vitamins and minerals. We see whole grain Pop-Tarts, Tyson chicken with misleading labels such as chicken raised without antibiotics that cause antibiotic resistance in humans, whatever that means. We see natural sweeteners called sweet fiber. We see whole grain Cheerios that are still full of sugar. Why not eat sugary cereals called Live Active for your digestive health with ingredients that provide extra food for your healthy bacteria in your gut such as inulin? Now you can get health food at McDonald's such as salads, but with salad dressings that make them have more calories than a Big Mac. And we also see antioxidant spiked junk food like Ginkgo spiked energy drinks. So what should we make of all these marketing claims and do they provide any benefit? Well in Michael Pollan's new book In Defense of Food he rails against the notion of nutritionism, which is the idea that we can single out nutrients from whole foods add them back to processed food, or take them as supplements and achieve health benefits. I think his point is very well taken. We must be very careful to avoid the marketing ploys of the food industry that wants us to eat more junk food by putting it in friendlier packaging. But make no mistake, these foods are still wolves in sheep's clothing, and we need to be very wary about any food that comes in a package, box, or can. That's not to say that there are not some good whole foods that are available in boxes, packages or cans. However, most of what is available in the marketplace is simply not real food. Now, a recent patient of mine who works for a large food industry company is a food scientist. His job is to invent and create new foods in the laboratory for mass consumption by mixing foods and chemicals to create certain tastes and flavors that mimic real food or those that stimulate appetite and satisfy our need for various tastes. think of these as Frankenfoods, right? Like Frankenstein. He became quite sick actually from handling these compounds and chemicals every day. And I've been working hard to get him to not only stop eating the processed food but also to stop playing with it. He actually wore a funny t-shirt to my office which showed the top 10 reasons to major in food science, which is a scientific discipline that actually teaches people how to invent foods for the food industry. So here are the top reasons you can become a food scientist. One, eat ice cream for breakfast and get credit for it. Two, We're in it for the dough, D-O-U-G-H. Three, grocery shopping is research instead of a chore, where we get to eat the results of our research project, because hairnets are a fashion statement, because we know what's really in your hot dogs. Not only do we know how to drink beer, but we can make it, cheese, yogurt and buttermilk, who says we're not cultured. As long as you're eating, we'll be working. And lastly, we have not stopped playing with our food, and now we're playing with yours. In fact, he gave me an industry trade journal called Food Business News, which I found very enlightening, actually. I was shocked to read the very careful and deliberate marketing ploys to gain a foothold in our increasingly health-conscious market. The advice to the food industry was clear: Modify packaging and ingredients in food just slightly to give the impression of health while continuing to provide poor-quality, nutrient-poor, calorie-dense foods. For example, there was an ad for Food Ingredient Solutions, a company that provides new types of food coloring. This allows manufacturers to color junk food with natural pigments which can replace artificial coverings used in tablets coating, pan confections, rubs, sauces, and more. So who are they fooling? Tyson Foods cleverly labeled their chicken to be produced without antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans, meaning they used antibiotics just not ones that cause problems in humans. Well, I don't know if that's true or not, but it's kind of a funny way around things. ConAgra, which is losing money, is actually creating a food line called Healthy Choice Steamers, which is still pretty much junky food. Another article documented a rating called Fitch Ratings that said that innovation in the food industry will continue in areas of perceived health, right, not actual health, perceived health, and wellness and convenience and ethnic products. Perceived health and wellness, not actual health, right? As long as you make people think they're getting something healthy, that's good enough, even if it's the same old junk food. Now other junk foods include allergy-free junk foods, energy drinks. There's also an article about Lean Pockets, which now has whole grain pocket sandwiches, which are still full of chemicals and processed food, but now have a few more flecks of fiber, given the illusion of a healthy food. There's something, it's even an ad for something called Veggie Pure which is actually a compound designed for cholesterol reduction that puts plant phytosterols in sugary drunk food. The bottom line, as I've always said, if it has a label, don't eat it. Or as Michael Pollan says, eat food, meaning eat real whole food, not too much, mostly plants. So I think we have to be very cautious as consumers against label claims for health benefits on processed food. which sprinkle minuscule, non-therapeutic amounts of healthful ingredients into otherwise poor quality, high calorie, nutrient poor foods giving us the illusion that we are doing something good for ourselves. Therefore, I encourage you to eat food that comes from a farmer's field and not a food chemist's laboratory. And you won't have to worry about all these functional food claims. So here is what to eat, very simple. Eat real whole food, right? Vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, lean animal protein such as wild fish that are small, poultry, whole omega-3 eggs. You can have small amounts of grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone-free beef and lamb. That's it. Food scientists tend to make us think that we need all these special ingredients and foods to stay healthy. However, they're just extracting them from real whole foods. So why not start with Whole Foods in the first place?
