The Front is Marketing. The Back is Information.

A client recently told me she was looking for a no-sugar dark chocolate. Then she found one. Or at least she thought she did. The words NO SUGAR were right there on the front of the package. That sounded reassuring. Almost virtuous. This must be a healthy choice, she thought. When she turned the package around she found allulose in the ingredient list.

Allulose is a sweetener. It is sometimes called a rare sugar because it occurs naturally in very small amounts in dried figs, raisins, jackfruit and kiwi. It has far fewer calories than ordinary sugar and generally has little effect on blood sugar. Under current guidelines, it does not have to be counted as total sugar or added sugar on the Nutrition Facts panel. So the claim on the front was technically true. But it was not the whole story.

It appears that sweetness has learned to travel under an alias. Sugar has become a marketing liability. We have learned to look for it, limit it and sometimes avoid it altogether. But sweetness has NOT disappeared. It has simply learned to travel under other names.

Allulose. Erythritol. Xylitol. Sorbitol. Maltitol. Sucralose. Aspartame. Saccharin. Stevia. Monk Fruit.

They are not all the same. Some are rare sugars. Some are sugar alcohols. Some are artificial sweeteners. Others are derived from plants. Some have few or no calories. Some may cause digestive discomfort. Some have been studied longer than others.

I am suggesting that sugar-free does not mean sweetener-free.

It does not mean unprocessed. And it certainly does not automatically mean healthy.

I wish I could tell you I have never been fooled by a clever claim on the front of a package. I cannot. I, in fact, have drunk the no-sugar Kool-Aid. Marketing is good. Very good.

It knows the words we want/need to see. No sugar. Plant-based. Natural. High protein. Heart Healthy. No fat. Low fat.

Those words create what is sometimes called a health halo. Once we see one appealing claim, we may unconsciously decide that everything about the product must be healthy. The halo glows so brightly that we forget to turn the package around.

That is exactly what the front of the package is designed to do. It is trying to persuade us quickly, before we stop, notice and ask questions.

Reading the ingredient list has become non-negotiable for me. It is also time-consuming and sometimes downright annoying. The promise on the front is printed in enormous, cheerful letters. But the ingredient list? That is often reduced to microscopic type and tucked under a flap, wrapped around a corner or hidden beside a seam. Finding it can feel like a treasure hunt, except the prize is a list of uncommon words, and you still may need a magnifying glass to read them.

Why is the information we most need so often made the hardest to find?

The names can be confusing even when we can see them and read them. Then there are the days when I arrive at the grocery store without my reading glasses.

I pause before automatically believing the large, cheerful promise on the front. I remind myself that a claim may be technically true without telling the whole truth.

What replaced the sugar?

What else is in the product?

Is this something I really want, or did the packaging just convince me that I should want it? Sometimes the product may still be a reasonable choice. That is not the point.

The point is to make the choice with our eyes wide open.

Turn the Package Around.

Remember the front of the package is marketing.

The back of the package is information.

We need both to understand what we are buying, but only one side was designed to tell us what the manufacturer hopes we will not take time to question.

So turn the package around. Read the ingredient list. Notice what the big claim leaves out and when you cannot read the fine print, bring along a bit of healthy skepticism. If it sounds too good, it is probably not for you.

💚 The Accidental Blogger

Recommendations:

Eat whole foods and avoid the above.

Try the app. Yuka🥕 Yuka is advertised as a completely independent app that helps you choose the right products. Scan, see, learn, select.