Junk food industry is a booming industry. All they are worried about is their monetary profits. And for this they go to any extent. They even lie and put false labels on packages to lure people to buy them at the expense of compromising with their health and safety. Here are some of the lies that this industry says.
The junk food industry
The junk food industry has its presence globally. This industry manufactures foods that are no doubt delicious but they are of low nutritive value and made from substandard ingredients. These are laced with saturated fats, loads of sugars and salts and are unhealthy for the body. These foods also contain artificial additive chemicals that increase the risk of cancer.
The junk foods induce body inflammation. They lead to enhanced risk of chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis, heart diseases, strokes, poor gut health, reduced cognitive function and cancer. They also reduce immune function of the body and cause type 2 diabetes. Moreover, they raise blood bad cholesterol and cause fatty liver and liver fibrosis and failure.
Junk foods (Source: NCD alliance)The governments have initiated steps to curb the production and sales of these unhealthy foods. But the industry uses lies to hide their dangerous foods and continue to sell them. This runs the risk of endangering the lives and health of consumers. Here are eight of the lies that the industry says.
Fat free, low fats or zero fats foods
These terms one will find on the labels of many junk foods in the supermarkets. It might be that these products have reduced fats. But in order to keep the taste high, the manufacturers replace them with sugars or artificial flavor enhancers. Both of these are bad.
Trans fats free
These labels are often falsely put on packages of foods. But when you check the ingredients list, it contains hydrogenated fats. If there are hydrogenated fats in the food sold, it cannot be trans free. Hence it is a fake term on the label. Avoid that product.
Contains whole grains
This term on the label does not mean it is healthy. The firms usually pulverize the whole grains into a fine powder before using it to make their final product. This is not healthy because it has reduced resistance to digestion. And this leads to higher blood sugar spikes.
Junk foods (Source: Health line)Gluten free
In fact, these contain highly refined, high-glycemic starches, such as corn starch, potato starch or tapioca starch. And these are not healthy. Also, these are expensive. Opt for real whole foods.
Hidden sugar
Instead of this term, firms use the terms high-fructose corn syrup or evaporated cane juice. These are also sugars. And the resulting product is sugary and hence not good for health.
Contains healthy ingredients
Manufacturers write that their products have healthy ingredients. But if you check the labels the amounts of these healthy ingredients are so negligible that they are equal to zero.
Replacing common known names with chemical names
The Junk food industry is profiting at the expense of public health (Source: KUT)Often, companies use terms that are lesser known on the labels. For instance, MSG is put as E621 and carrageenan is put as E407.
Read here: Ultra processed foods: low nutritional value and toxins cause harm!
Organic
People get misled when there is the organic term on the label. The company writes raw organic cane sugar. This is the same refined table sugar which is bad.