Certain words, colors, and images give the impression a food item is healthy. When you see green and the words all-natural on the label, you unconsciously think an item is pure and healthy. Based on this, you might assign the product other attributes like low in calories or high in vitamins without even reading the label. At one time, the words low-fat or fat-free had the power to sway health-conscious shoppers. These days more people realize low-fat and fat-free products replace fat with sugar. Not a good trade-off.
Do Food Labels Influence Appetite Hormones?
Interestingly, food labels may do more than affect your brain. They may impact appetite hormones, hormones that tell you how hungry or full you are. In a study carried out at Yale, researchers gave a group of 46 participants a milkshake. Half of the participants got a milkshake with a bright red label that said the milkshake was indulgently delicious. It listed the calorie content as 620 calories – clearly not for the health conscious. The other half drank a milkshake with a label that gave the impression it was low in calories and had no fat or added sugar. In reality, the milkshakes were the same with each having around 380 calories.
The researchers measured levels of ghrelin, an appetite hormone that boosts appetite, before and after the participants drank the shakes. The outcome? The group that thought they were drinking an “indulgent” shake had high ghrelin levels beforehand and ghrelin promptly returned to baseline after taking the last sip of a milkshake.
What about the group who thought they were drinking something healthy? Their ghrelin levels stayed relatively flat, suggesting they didn’t feel as satisfied as the first group. This suggests that what a label tells us influences us at a physiological level.
Other research shows when we think we’re eating something indulgent, whether or not it actually is, it satisfies hunger and keeps us full longer. The brain is a pretty powerful organ, isn’t it? Food manufacturers like to take advantage of that.
How to Avoid Being Influenced By Food Labels
It would be nice if we could turn off our emotions when grocery shopping and avoid all of those bright colors and pretty pictures on food labels. At the very least, those labels encourage us to pick up items we would normally walk past. Sometimes those items end up in the grocery cart. Here are some tips to help you avoid being seduced by food labels:
Don’t grocery shop when you haven’t eaten. When you’re hungry, you’re more likely to be sucked in by food labels with pictures of food. Once you pick up the product to look at it, you’re one step closer to dropping it in your cart.
Always shop with a list – and stick to it. Designate a certain amount of time to spend in the store. Set a timer to go off once grocery shopping time is up. This will encourage you to grab the healthy items you need without hanging around to fill your cart full of extraneous, unhealthy stuff you didn’t need.
Stick with whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible. An exception is frozen vegetables. Frozen vegetables are quick to prepare and retain their vitamins and nutrients because they’re frozen at their peak of freshness. Fresh vegetables can lose some of their nutrients when they’re transported long distances.
When you do buy a packaged product, read the nutritional facts and ingredient list. Don’t make your decision based on words like “natural,” “good source of fiber,” or “no added sugar.” Verify everything by reading the label. Remember, natural doesn’t mean organic. Look for the USDA certified organic seal when you’re buying organic products.
Steer your cart away from the aisles that have packaged and canned foods. Spend your time along the perimeter of the store where the fresh items are.
The Bottom Line?
Food labels influence us without our conscious awareness. They cause us to form an impression about a product that’s not based on reality. Stick with whole foods as much as possible, and when you do buy something packaged, look beyond the front label and get the nutritional facts.
References:
Eating Well. “The Real Truth about How Food Labels Affect the Food We Choose and Buy”
Related Articles By Cathe:
Canned, Fresh, and Frozen Vegetables: Are They Equally Nutritious?
Nutrition Confusion: How Many People Really Read Nutritional Labels?
4 Ways Nutrition Labels Are Misleading
Nutrition Labels: How They’re Going to Change