Foods that look healthy – but may shorten your life

In recent years, supermarket shelves have become an arena crowded with products marketed as "diet," "0% fat," and "whole wheat," or those displaying images of fitness and nature. However, studies and recommendations from health organizations indicate that a health halo does not guarantee that the product itself is nutritionally superior. At the same time, studies on sweeteners and ultra-processed food raise new questions – but also require distinguishing between scientific findings and scary claims that are not well supported.

Yogurt can be part of a balanced diet, but there can be big differences between natural yogurt and a sweetened product with fruit flavors. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends limiting free sugar intake to less than 10% of total daily energy, and preferably less than 5% for additional health benefits.

Therefore, the question is not just whether the packaging says "0% fat." It is important to check how much sugar is in a serving and what the ingredients are. The claim that every low-fat yogurt necessarily contains "huge amounts" of sugar is not universally true – the composition of products varies greatly between brands.

The figure that every cup of fruit yogurt contains four to six teaspoons of sugar also cannot be used as a general rule. There are products that contain significant amounts, and others much less. Therefore, the more accurate way is to compare the products in practice.

The label "whole wheat" also does not mean that every loaf of bread is nutritionally identical. Some industrial breads include a long list of ingredients, while others consist of a relatively small number of components.

However, the claim that emulsifiers in whole wheat bread "lead to chronic inflammation linked to cancer in the digestive system" is presented too definitively. There are studies on ultra-processed food, food additives, and the microbiome, but it is not correct to conclude from this that every commercial whole wheat bread causes inflammation or cancer. The choice does not have to be between "bad white bread" and "fake whole wheat bread." It is worth looking at the proportion of whole grain, the amount of fiber, salt, sugar, and the list of ingredients.

Images of oatmeal, nuts, fruits, or people exercising can create a healthy impression, but they are not a substitute for the nutritional values table. Certain breakfast cereals and granola bars contain added sugar in significant amounts. The WHO explicitly states that breakfast cereals are among the foods where free sugars may be found, and recommends limiting their total consumption. But here too, one should be careful about generalization: not every granola is "candy," and not all breakfast cereals contain high-fructose corn syrup. The composition varies from product to product.

Diet drinks: what did the WHO actually determine? This is one of the topics where it is especially important to be precise. In 2023, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" – group 2B – based on limited evidence. But at the same time, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives did not change the acceptable daily intake limit of up to 40 milligrams per kg of body weight.

That is, the classification does not mean that drinking a diet drink causes cancer. IARC itself emphasizes that its classification refers to the possible ability of a substance to cause cancer and the strength of the evidence for it – and not to a person's risk of developing cancer at a certain level of exposure.

At the same time, the WHO recommended not using non-sugar sweeteners as a strategy for long-term weight control. The review of evidence on which the recommendation was based did not find a long-term advantage in reducing body fat and pointed to possible links to negative health outcomes with prolonged consumption.

A large study published in the BMJ that followed more than 100,000 participants found a link between the consumption of artificial sweeteners and a higher risk of cardiovascular disease by about 9% and cerebrovascular disease by about 18%. However, this is a link found in an observational study and not proof that the sweeteners themselves caused the diseases.

And what about the dressing poured on the salad? The claim that soybean, corn, or canola oil "oxidize the body," create chronic inflammation in the arteries, and are the "number one cause of heart attacks" is not supported in the way it was phrased.

Ready-made dressings can contain many calories, salt, or sugar, depending on the product, so it is worth reading the label. But there is no basis to broadly turn common vegetable oils into a health enemy just because they contain omega-6.

The important point is not that these five types of food are "dangerous" or that they should be completely removed from the menu. The problem is that the appearance and branding of a product can create a healthy impression that does not necessarily reflect its composition. A product that boasts 0% fat can still contain sugar. Granola can be high in sugar. "Whole wheat" does not necessarily mean that the product is barely processed. And "diet" does not make a drink a product that necessarily helps with weight loss.

Therefore, instead of relying on the front of the packaging, it is worth turning it over. The list of ingredients, the amount of sugar, salt, fiber, and fat give a much better picture.