Nutrition - Food additives and Labelling

When it comes to healthy marketing terminology, many different phrases are used on food labels. This is to increase the appeal of products.

These phrases are known as 'low calorie', 'sugar free', 'light, low, reduced or high' and 'reduced or low fat'.

'low calorie' has no set level but must be lower than the original
'sugar free' usually has artificial sweeteners for taste and sugar hasn't been added
'light, low, reduced or high' shouldn't mislead although there are no specific requirements
'reduced or low fat' usually has calories added through the adding of other ingredients to bring the product than lower by 25% in fat.

Food manufacturers usually prefer to use technical names when listing the food additives. These are known as its 'E' number which a lot of the general public and generally ignorant of.

Refined sugars help to increase sugars and are very sweet and slightly addictive. They contain no calories. These sugars/sweeteners are glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, inverted sugar syrup, sugar, dextrose, sorbitol, xylitol, high fructose corn starch, maltodextrin and mannitol.

MSG (Monosodium glutamate) is an isolated amino acid, can be addictive and sweetens the flavour of products. It can affect the hypothalamic area of the brain thus being linked to obesity. However, it's only needed by the law on food labels if it's been added in its pure form. Free glutamic acid can cause the same problems as it is still there in lots of other additives. Its presence will be listed as whey protein isolate, soy protein isolate, hydrolysed protein, carrageenan, yeast extract and most natural flavourings.