Food marketers are are eager to latch onto the latest diet and nutrition trends to promote their questionable goods. Some of these descriptors might be useful — such as low-salt — but catchy labels don’t tell us much about the nutritional content of the product. However, many consumers think they do.
Low-fat might be the all-time most ubiquitious front-of-package catch phrase, but in the last decade, the low-carb descriptor took the (flourless) cake. The claims and products skyrocketed, stemming from a regrowth in the popularlity of Atkins-style, protein-heavy diets. Though low-carb products aren’t necessarily better or worse for you, a study published in the September/October issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior found that consumers misinterpret these claims to mean a product is better for their health and their waistlines.
