Food Labels That May Sound Legitimate, But Aren’t

Is it worth the extra cost to purchase products with labels touting natural, organic, GMO-free, and so on?

In many cases, you are likely wasting dollars.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified and defined three categories of claims that can be used on labels. The three categories are health claims, nutrient content claims, and structure/function claims.

Health claims relate a connection between a food or ingredient and disease risk. For example, an approved health claim would be foods high in calcium and vitamin D claiming “helps promote bone health”.

Nutrient content claims reflect the quantity of a nutrient in food. For example, fat free is a nutrient content claim, as is the term “lite” which reflects a comparison to another food.

Structure/function claims describe the role between a nutrient to a nutrient deficiency disease. For example, the statement “fiber maintains bowel regularity”. There are additional parameters around using these claims, such as including disclaimers or additional information on the labels.

It all boils down to companies trying to get your hard earned dollars by using labels to entice you into purchasing… and causing a whole lot of confusion as we try to decipher these claims.

I’m overwhelmed just reading through all the FDA information as I prep to share this with you. Ugh.

Let’s talk about the most prevalent claims.
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