Three Common Nutrition Myths
| Don’t be fooled by these nutrition myths. Here’s what you need to know!
Myth: GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms) are bad for me and I should use the Non-GMO Project Verified label to guide my purchasing. Fact: There’s no reliable evidence to indicate that a GMO food is any better or worse nutritionally than a non-GMO food. In addition, the Non-GMO Project Verified label is usually a marketing strategy to get someone to buy a product. To date, only 10 foods are approved to use GMO’s in the United States and they include: alfalfa, apples, canola, corn (field and sweet), cotton, papaya, potatoes, soybeans, squash and sugar beets. If you choose to shop non-GMO, know that when you buy a product that does not contain any of these listed foods on the ingredient list, but still has the label, it is just for marketing purposes. You may even spend 10-62% more for those products as well. Myth: I should only eat superfoods. Fact: There’s not a lot of regulation on this term, so again it is a marketing strategy. Lots of foods can be nutritious but are not put on “superfood” lists. Take yogurt, for example. Yogurt has protein, probiotics, and calcium, but it’s missing from many superfood lists! Don’t limit yourself to just “superfoods,” or you may miss out on some great food choices. Myth: “Natural” is always healthiest. Fact: Again, this is often simply a marketing strategy. There’s little regulation on what this label means, but the FDA has a policy mandating it be free from artificial and synthetic additives. They do not address health or food production with this policy; for example, sugar is natural. Choosing “healthy” foods using this label does not always guarantee one product is healthier than another. Instead, read the nutrition facts label. Written by Katie Rearick, Viterbo dietetic intern. |