Making Sense Of Fruit Drink Labels

From HealthNewsDigest.com

Food/Nutrition Columnist
Making Sense Of Fruit Drink Labels
By
Oct 8, 2021 - 2:45:18 PM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Kids love fruit-flavored drinks. They are a staple for school lunch or on-the-go snacks. Your goal, as a parent, is to buy the best choices available. Your eye immediately travels to the picture of the luscious bouquet of fruits on the label, or the description as all natural, or even better the claim of no sugar added. Which brand should you choose?

Navigating food labels on fruit drinks, aimed at kids, and side-stepping brand marketing practices can be trickier than you think. Brands are very good at designing labels that elicit an optimism bias or give the drink a health halo effect that increases your confidence that this is the right choice for your family. Let’s take a look at some of these labeling strategies that are designed to prevent you from looking further – reading the nutrition label or carefully reading the ingredient list.

Implied natural claims are the most popular strategy used to entice you to select a brand of a fruit drink. Clean labels, implying a product is minimally processed or free of additives have become increasing popular over the last decade. When a single ingredient is labeled natural, such as natural flavors, the shopper often generalizes that claim to the entire drink. Natural improves the shopper’s perception of the product’s taste, healthfulness and environmental sustainability. Currently, there is no actual definition of natural and no regulations against the use of this word on labels. Natural flavor is the most common claim on fruit drinks.

Using juice or nectar in the drink name is the second most common strategy to persuade you that the brand is a healthy choice. But you need to see what follows the words juice or nectar. Is it grape juice drink, fruit juice punch, mango nectar cocktail? All these terms imply that the fruit juice has been diluted, in most cases by sweetened water. When the ingredient list is reviewed, in 60% of fruit drink brands, neither juice or nectar are the first or second ingredient on the list. Additionally, fewer that 10% of brands list the percent of juice on the front of the label. It may be found near the nutrition fax panel in small type – 6% juice, 10% juice.

Sugar free, no sugar added, less sugar than other leading fruit drinks are all popular marketing strategies because families are trying to cut back on sugar and sweetened fruit drinks are a major contributor of sugar in children’s diets. These are absence-framed sugar claims and noting the reduction of sugar in a brand can increase sales. Many brands that boast no sugar added claims, add zero calorie sweeteners which are currently not recommended for use by young children. Plus, current labeling regulations do not require no-calorie sweeteners to be disclosed anywhere on the product packaging except in the ingredient list.

Good source of vitamin C or 100% DV (daily value) of vitamin C appears on one-third of all fruit drink brands. These claims are one of the greatest predictors of perceived brand healthfulness even though fewer than 10% of kids in the US need extra vitamin C each day. Parents are being seduced into thinking their kids need extra vitamin C and maybe their regular diets are lacking, when in actuality neither is true.

Scan the nutrition facts panel and the ingredients list when you buy a fruit drink for the first time. On the nutrition facts panel note the calories in a serving and then look at the amount of added sugar found in the drink. If the added sugar value is high, then most of the calories are coming from sugar which is an empty calorie source, empty of any vitamins or minerals. Next look at the ingredient list. Ingredients are listed in descending order by volume. If sugar is one of the top three ingredients, once again, most the calories in that brand are coming from simple added sugar and you probably can find a better choice.

And, always keep in mind that the best beverage fallback for kids is refreshing cold water.

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Diabetes Counter – the most up-to-date information on managing diabetes

Calorie Counter – a weight loss guide that won’t let you down

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Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd Ed.

For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com or on twitter: @JoAnnHeslinRD