Today, just about any food with a health tag—less fat, less sugar, less cholesterol and food additives— can be sold easily to an increasingly health conscious population bent on cutting the flab.
Companies are marketing foods on the basis of what they lack, not what they have. Sugar and white flour are being mixed with deleterious additives to create “free of fat and cholesterol” confectionery. “Cholesterol-free” margarine is actually laden with ever-destructive transfats. Fat-free but sugar-laden breakfast cereals are being marketed as healthy breakfast foods. Refined oils — ripped off their essential fats, chemically treated and hydrogenated — are being sold as cholesterol-free and, at times, fat-free too. Breads are colored brown and sold as brown bread implying whole wheat.

The latest to hit the shelves are the so-called diet foods. They include everything from diet potatoes, namkeens and mithais to biscuits, cakes, chocolates, ice-creams and even rice. And then, there are the “supplements” sold specially to wannabe athletes. While there are genuine products suitable for specific kinds of individuals, there is a larger number of misleading ones peddled with miracle claims to vulnerable population.
So, how do we recognize the genuine among the quacks? There are a few pointers that you’d invariably find on labels of products masquerading as health foods or supplements. Check them out (in the box on the right) and keep them away.