IS THE CURRENT TRAFFIC LIGHT FOOD LABELLING SYSTEM AN EFFECTIVE MEASURE OF HEALTH?
This is a really interesting topic to explore as on the surface, it seems like the obvious answer would be yes. When you’re out and about, looking to grab a quick snack, the last thing you want to be doing is rigorously reading over ingredient lists and nutritional tables. Instead, you can take a quick glance at the traffic light rating, opt for something with more green than red and there you have it - a healthy choice!
Unfortunately, this is not exactly the case. Although having visual guidance on packaging can be helpful when it comes to making more informed choices around nutrition, less than 50% of people who read food labels actually understand what they mean. To add to that, the oversimplification of the food traffic light system can be misleading as only displaying information on total calories, fat, sugar and salt does not give any indication of how processed the food is, how much fibre it contains and most importantly, the quality of the ingredients.
For example, you might decide to go for a bag of mixed nuts but then write them off as an ‘unhealthy’ option due to the red and orange traffic light ratings on their packet. These go back onto the shelf and instead, you’re drawn to the full set of green light ratings on the low calorie diet bar sitting a few spaces along.
In reality, these bars are often super processed and full of sweeteners, emulsifiers and thickeners, which we now know can cause disruption within our gut microbiomes. In comparison, the mixed nuts contain healthy fats, fibre and protein, keeping you fuller for longer and stabilising blood glucose levels, making them a much more nutritionally dense snack option.
With research into how influential our gut microbes are when it comes to so many aspects of our overall health, including our mood, hormone production and even how much energy we are extracting from foods, surely focusing on optimising our gut health should be a priority here?
Fibre is crucial for our gut microbes yet this is not something which is taken into account when it comes to the traffic light labelling system. Although some companies have caught onto this rise in interest when it comes to gut health and have chosen to slap ‘high in fibre’ across their packaging, this must be taken with a pinch of salt. In order for a product to have this claim on its packaging, it needs to contain just 6g/100g of fibre. Considering the UK adult daily recommended intake for fibre is 30g, this can be quite misleading.
Equally, the ‘sugars’ listed include those which are naturally occurring in foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables (packed full of fibre, vitamins and minerals) and therefore, seeing a red rating for these might deter you from choosing that option, missing out on other valuable micro and macronutrients.
This is why it’s important to look beyond food labels and to be aware of clever marketing which is geared towards choosing the ‘low fat’, ‘low calorie’ or ‘low sugar’ options, as these are often the most profitable for manufacturers but not necessarily for our overall health. If you're looking to understand more about the topic of food labels, we go into more depth on this in my How to navigate food label claims and clever marketing blog post.
While I’m absolutely not suggesting that we should be spending hours combing through each and every ingredient on the back of a packet, I am suggesting that we look beyond the relatively limited information the traffic light labelling system provides us. Taking it back to basics, trying to cook from scratch as often as we can and using good quality ingredients is going to be a lot more nourishing for our bodies (and kinder to our bank accounts!) than something which has been altered to taste like the real deal (think ‘low fat/sugar/calorie’ labels) and instead, is full of added sweeteners, emulsifiers and thickeners.
My go-to snack options that I try to have to hand when I’m out and about include nuts and/or seeds with fresh fruit or dark chocolate.
