HEALTH WASHING

Health washing - It's like green washing, which is the misleading messages and labeling of products to lead the buyer to believe they are produced in an environmentally friendly way and it's use is not harmful to you or the environment. Health washing is my term for the same concept, but it's misleading messages making a food product sound like it offers health benefits and is an overall healthy food. I'm going to dirty things up a bit and dissect a few examples.

Almond milk - a more healthy option? The situation with almond milk brings to mind something my father said about Lutheran church coffee back when I was a teenager. It was so weak that he used to joke that it was made by someone passing a coffee bean over the pot.  It still makes me chuckle, but when it comes to nutrition, the concept is not so funny.  The reality with almond milk is very similar to the single coffee bean joke.  There is an insignificant amount of actual almond in it, certainly not enough to provide any benefit.  The main reason we don't offer it at the hospital, where I work, is that there is zero protein in it.  There's also no fat, so between that and no protein, you really have to wonder about the real almond content since those are the two main nutrients contained there in.  It can serve as a nice low-kcal beverage (unsweetened) and such, but if you are choosing it as a healthier alternative to cow's milk, it's just not. Cow's milk is naturally high in calcium and B vitamins, protein, potassium, plus it is fortified with vitamin D.  Cow's milk is also an important part of the DASH diet - dietary approaches to stop hypertension.

You've no doubt seen major brands of soda revert back to the sugar of yester-year - cane sugar.  Though back then, it was just called sugar.  Cane sugar is gaining in popularity as a supposedly healthier alternative to high fructose corn syrup.  As a cheaper source of sugar used as an ingredient in a variety of food products, high fructose corn syrup allowed sugary junk foods and beverages to be sold in inflated sizes and packaging for less money. Yup. When people eat and drink larger quantities of high calorie sugary junk, there is a good chance they will gain weight - whether the sugar source is high fructose corn syrup or cane sugar.....or honey and a variety of other types of sugar for that matter.  Cane sugar is still sugar and is still something to limit in our diets.

For a while now, we've been seeing sea salt pop up both in ingredients lists and front row and center on food packaging.  Sea salt is touted as natural and there is a general belief that it is lower in sodium than regular iodized salt.  While sea salt can have subtle flavors and may be less pungent from a culinary standpoint, gram for gram, the sodium content is equivalent.

Speaking of salt (sodium).....Americans continue to have a love a affair with salt and we eat too much.  Reducing the sodium in our diets is a real and legitimate recommendation, whether you have high blood pressure or not.  A high sodium diet can contribute to the stiffening of our arteries, which in turn increases risk for having an actual event - a heart attack or stroke.  Unfortunately, it isn't popular enough with the masses, so there isn't really a bandwagon for the food industry to jump onto. There are a few offerings out there that are a little better, but they certainly are not wide spread.  There are a few items that are so incredibly high in sodium, like canned soups and tomato/vegetable juice, that have lower sodium options. I want to emphasize 2 things here.  One is that "lower" does not mean "low" sodium. These foods were so high to begin with that a reduction by a defined % by the labeling laws, still leaves the food high sodium. The second point is that very often, these products are replacing the sodium chloride with potassium chloride. Now, that's just fine for healthy people, but for anyone that has kidney problems or on a medication that puts a person's potassium level on the high side, these products could be deadly.

On that note, it is important to be aware of what's what on the front of packaging.  We tend to be drawn to foods that specify they are organic, natural, gluten-free, non-GMO, etc. You could wander into any health food store and see all those messages on all kinds of foods. But, turn the package over and look at the sodium content and you will find that those foods aren't so healthy at all. Some are down right salt licks! 

What about those claims then?

Organic:  While there are strict standards for a food to be labeled as organic, it does not necessarily make it a healthy option.  One misconception about organic fruits and vegetables is that they have higher nutritional values than non-organic.  That simply is not the case.  It is good to be aware of the "dirty dozen" - 12 common fruits and vegetables that tend to have higher pesticide residues and may be worth purchasing organic. These include peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots and pears. Unfortunately, there has come to be a perception that in order to eat healthy, you must buy all organic. This has perpetuated the belief that eating healthy costs more, when the opposite is actually true. We also need to keep things in perspective. Eating a peach that is not organic is better than eating no peach at all. I once heard an FDA person say, (at a conference, I believe) that one does more harm to themselves pumping their own gas once, than a lifetime of pesticide exposure.  Whether exaggerated or not, it does put things into perspective.

Natural:  The term natural doesn't mean a whole lot and also doesn't make a food healthy. There are a lot of natural substances out there that can cause harm, like hemlock, foxglove (digitalis) and arsenic, just to name a few. (By the way, did you know that natural licorice can increase your blood pressure and kava kava has the potential to cause severe liver damage?)

Gluten-free:  The only good thing about the gluten-free rage is that there are more products available for people who have celiac disease, which is a true and severe gluten intolerance.  However, not all gluten-free is truly gluten-free.  For someone with celiac, something as simple as using the same toaster that has had wheat or rye bread in it, can contaminate their gluten-free bread enough to cause intestinal damage. And did you know that malt vinegar and soy sauce both contain gluten? There are some people with non-celiac gluten sensitivities as well, but for the majority of the population, there is no benefit whatsoever.  Frankly, I'm all for gluten!  It's the protein in wheat that makes dough stretchy and makes a bagel chewy!

Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs:  Many food products proclaim non-GMO on their packaging as a selling point, suggesting that it is a more healthy option.  Well, humans have actually been genetically modifying plants for food for 10,000 years. In fact, it even happens naturally!  Plants must evolve in order to survive in changing ecosystems and they do this through spontaneous genetic mutation. Those that are susceptible to destructive processes, such as infestation or weather extremes, will perish. From among the survivors, humanity harvests food for survival. If you are a gardener, you have no doubt seen it in action with cross pollination resulting in some hybrids, like peas that have the qualities of both a shelling pea and snap pea when grown in close proximity to one another.  Did you know that cantaloupe would not exist without the miracles of genetic modification?  Crossing plants with certain desirable and beneficial attributes to produce a seed that will grow with less water or in poor soil, with higher nutrient content, higher yields, stay fresh longer without perishing, etc, helps feed the world. This is particularly true in third world countries where drought is ever present and food is scarce. Here in our first world markets, consumers have driven the demand by not tolerating fresh produce with blemishes, bruises, or minor defects when making purchasing decisions.  Sellers also demand that fresh produce have a longer shelf life.  So, the practice has always been around, but over the years with advances in genetic engineering, we can now make a rather slow process happen much more quickly.  It just sounds scary. (Hollywood has surely played a role in developing that sentiment!).

Lastly, do not be fooled by a food product that says it contains so many grams of whole grain per serving. This is absolutely meaningless as there is no standard for that. What we are looking for here is fiber. Like books and wine, we can't judge a food by its cover. Turn it around for the real story on the food label and the ingredients list.

I'll end with my favorite healthy washed food like substance, sort of, kind of, not really. More of a novelty, I suppose.