Product packages in the grocery store scream out the virtues of their contents:

• Fat Free
• Gluten Free
• No sugar Added
• Not GMO

The Nutritional Facts area on each product indicates the ingredients contained to inform consumers. Listed from highest to lowest proportion, it tells us the amounts of macro- and micro-nutrients and the percentage of the RDA of each.

But how truthful are food companies in these labelling disclosures?

Look at a product advertised as ‘fat free’ and more often than not it is loaded with sugar. Gluten-free soy sauce? Perhaps, but there is a good chance the soy is from a GMO source. This is the shell game played by many of the major food companies — Kraft, Nestlé, General Mills. Hype the health benefits but hide the trade-off.

What other games are played to circumvent the truth? Ingredients are listed from highest to lowest proportion contained in the food. Usually the first three ingredients on the list make up most of what is contained. To avoid having sugar as one of the top three ingredients, often the sugar component is broken down into three or more different types of sugars: brown sugar, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup. With each having a smaller percentage, all of a sudden sugar isn’t a top three ingredient and the product isn’t so bad.

Want to avoid monosodium glutamate (MSG)? Better look hard. Yeast extract, vegetable protein extract, hydrolysed plant protein, calcium caseinate. All of these and many more are popular ingredients that contain high levels of MSG.

After years of resistance, food companies were mandated to disclose the amount of trans-fats in their products. Did you know that any food containing less the 0.5 grams of trans-fats per serving can be rated as trans-fat free — containing zero trans-fats?! Guess what many food companies do? Serving sizes are decreased, dropping the amount of trans-fats below 0.5 grams and miraculously the product now contains none!

Like so many of the obstacles confronted on a daily basis in the pursuit of health, it comes down to ‘follow the money’. The big food companies maximise profits by driving down the cost of manufacturing with low-cost ingredients. They add ingredients that tantalise the taste buds and keep us coming back for more. All with a disregard of the health impact on their customers.

Playing the ingredient shell game with the big food companies requires you to learn a whole new set of rules in order to make the best decisions for you and your family.