What’s in Packaged Food?

Americans' collective waist has been inching up every year and blood pressure increased thanks in part to our sedentary lifestyles and to the amount of sugar and salt in all food. For convenience and to save time, we often eat fast food and restaurant rich foods and walk much less than our slender European counterparts. Portion size is also much larger than we need. Consumers are busy, too trustworthy, and not very fond of reading packaging labels; food producers count on that. According to nutritionists and medical professionals cited by Michelle Crouch, manufacturers hide ingredients they should list on the packaging under the label of "natural flavoring" in order to deceive consumers. And the deception is massive. (Michelle Crouch, “Fifty Things Food Manufacturers Won’t Tell You”) How do you hide sugar? By giving it different names such as "high fructose corn syrup, cane crystals, dextrose, evaporated can juice, agave nectar, and fruit juice concentrate." In doing so, the amount of sugar does not appear as the number one ingredient on the list. Walter Willett, M.D., said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) might eventually require food labeling to show all types of sugar contained and print them on the package as "added sugars."

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