8 food label myths to watch out for when you’re gluten and dairy-free.

AD: In partnership with Health Claims Unpacked

Today I wanted to talk about food labels. If you’re on any sort of restricted diet, you’ll know that looking at food labels quickly becomes second nature. Not only do I check food labels for myself-being gluten and dairy free-but also for my son Jude, who has an egg allergy.

Dietary restrictions aside, I also check them just because of taking an interest in my family’s health: since having Jude, I have realised how much salt and sugar is in everything! Have you ever picked up something just because of the label on the front and not really understand the health claims? I know I have!

So many times I’ve bought something that says ‘reduced sugar,’ thinking it actually means none. A new trend is also to label things ‘gut-friendly’ but what does it actually mean for our guts?

This post is a partnership with the Health Claims Unpacked project, who has created a digital platform specifically to help educate and improve our understanding of the claims we see on health foods. Funded by EIT food, the project is being led by Professor Rodney Jones at the University of Reading.

Proper food labeling is vital to so many of us, so you can join in with the research, test your own knowledge of nutrition labels and get involved with different activities to contribute to important research. This research will help provide guidance to food brands and potentially make labeling clearer and easy to understand in the future so join in here. Here are some myth that it may also be worth being mindful of when doing your food shop…

1. Gut-Friendly is automatically great for YOUR gut.

What does it actually mean: This is one of the most common health claims I see but do we actually know what it means? Gut friendly means different things to different people. So what does gut-friendly really mean when we see it on the label.? Firstly, it can mean that it’s high-fibre food.

As I talked about in my fibre blog post, high in fibre doesn’t automatically equal good for your gut. Especially if we see this claim attached to things like wheat bran, a coarse type of fibre that might get things moving but can irritate an inflamed gut. It might also mean it contains good bacteria-of course a positive thing but it’s worth taking a closer look at the different strains and quantities.

The verdict: These foods can be helpful but the best thing you can do for gut health is to eat a varied diet, as I talk about in my five foods for helping boost your microbiome post.

2.Plant-based means full of vegetables

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What does it actually mean? Plant-based originally meant a focus on eating foods that come from plants but you might be surprised that plant-based on a label doesn’t necessarily mean something actually contains any vegetables-it can include things like beans or pulses; even if in highly processed form.

The verdict: so, yes plant-based doesn’t necessarily equal healthy but it’s a good label to look for if you’re a vegan or vegetarian.

3. Reduced Fat means low fat

What does it actually mean? Lots of see the words ‘reduced fat’ and assume it means an item is low in fat. However, this is not always the case.

For something to be low in fat, it needs to have less than 3g of fat per 100g. However, reduced fat just means it is lower in fat than a standard product-so a reduced-fat chocolate bar still might be much higher in fat than most things on the shelves, it’s just lower in fat than other chocolate bars.

Remember fat isn’t necessarily the enemy-especially for items like oily fish and avocado. In turn, opting for ‘fat-free’, often means it’s high in sugar, which is used to replace fat.

Verdict: Learning about the differences can be useful and reduced fat is a useful label when comparing different types of the same food. Remember that fat-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

4. Sugar free is good for you.

What does it actually mean? Reduced Sugar. Sugar-Free. Low Sugar. Refined Sugar-Free. No Added Sugar. Five labels but five very different meanings. Let’s start with sugar free-this one does what it says on the tin, it’s free from sugar but may have lots of sweeteners added. A lot of these such as aspartame aren’t great for your digestion.

Like fat, low sugar means it’s low in sugar (5g or less per 100g) but reduced sugar doesn’t tell you much: just that the drink has less sugar than a standard version.

What about no added sugar? No added sugar products often make their way into the free from aisles. This means sugar hasn’t been added but it will be naturally occuring in the food, such as fruit sugar. Whilst no refined sugar might sound good, it doesn’t mean the quantity of sugar is any lower, just the source of sugar is different.

Verdict: Labels around sugar can be confusing so if you’re watching your sugar, read up on the differences.

5. Wheat Free is suitable for those on a gluten-free diet.

What does it actually mean? Oh, wheat-free. So close to gluten-free but not quite. Wheat-free simply means the product doesn’t contain wheat. Ideal for those who have wheat allergies but slightly misleading since the percentage of those with a wheat allergy compared to issues with gluten is quite small. These foods often contain rye or spelt instead.

Verdict: One to ignore if you’re on a gluten-free diet.

6. Organic is always best

What does it actually mean? Organic is used when at least 95% of the farm grown ingredients in a product are grown organically. Organic doesn’t mean pesticide-free but it does mean it’s grown to organic standards. Something being organic doesn’t automatically make it good for us- a study found the organic label meant people perceived an item as lower fat, lower in calories and higher in fibre than non-organic food. None of this necessarily true!

Verdict: Organic is a useful term but make sure you understand the meaning behind it; organic doesn’t affect the calories or fat of a product!

7. Superfoods are worth the money

What does it actually mean? There’s no real definition of superfoods and the label is almost meaningless. Looking at specific food claims can help your understanding of nutrition labels instead, for example: ‘high in vitamin D to help support healthy bones.’ Buying something just for the ‘superfood’ label, isn’t a great idea.

Verdict: Focus on health claims rather than this label.

8. Opt for high-protein foods on the label

What does it actually mean? High protein is a label that has increasingly become attached to foods I’ve found in the free-from aisle; such as snack bar and crisps. However, although this might be useful for vegans, the British Nutrition Foundation states that the average daily intake of protein in the UK is 88g for men and 64g for women, which is plenty and actually exceeds the dietary reference values. We get most of our protein from meat, fish, nuts and seeds and most people don’t necessarily need to source it from snack products.

Verdict: You’re probably eating enough protein already.

I hope you’ve found this post useful. Let me know: what’s the biggest myth you’ve seen around food labeling? Is there a label you’re still unclear about? Do checkout Health Claims Unpacked and get involved with their important research to make things easier for us all.