Claims We Buy
Down To Earth|January 16, 2017

For food manufacturers, misleading claims are a way of marketing in India. It's time the government made the regulations stringent and brought about necessary changes in its approach towards food labelling and claims

Ananya Tewari and Amit Khurana
Claims We Buy

AS NANDINI Shah, a health-conscious young working mother in New Delhi, enters a supermarket, she knows exactly what to buy. She picks Bournvita for her 11-year-old son and Fortune vivo Diabetes Care Oil for her husband. “Bournvita will help build stamina in my son who has interest in sports, and the oil can help manage diabetes of my husband,” she says. Deepti Khanna, a college student from a posh South Delhi locality, carefully reads nutrition facts on the label before buying grocery items. “I prefer NutriChoice Essentials Oats cookies and Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive over other biscuits as they have a high fibre content, are made out of whole grains and have no added sugar,” says Khanna. She also buys ragi (finger millet) cookies for her diabetic father and Saffola Masala Oats for a healthy snack in the morning.

While Shah and Khanna are happy with their choices, the claims based on which they choose the products may not be entirely true. An analysis by Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) shows that several milk-food drinks come loaded with sugar. A serving of Bournvita contains enough sugar to exhaust 57 per cent of one’s daily quota as recommended by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in Hyderabad.

CSE researchers also spoke to health and nutrition experts to understand the authenticity of claims by food manufacturers, and the observations were startling.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 16, 2017-Ausgabe von Down To Earth.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 16, 2017-Ausgabe von Down To Earth.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS DOWN TO EARTHAlle anzeigen
The Pill That's Roiling US Drug Regulation
Down To Earth

The Pill That's Roiling US Drug Regulation

The hard right is challenging FDA's authority to regulate drugs with its lawsuit to ban America's most used abortion pill

time-read
4 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
TURN OVER A NEW LEAF
Down To Earth

TURN OVER A NEW LEAF

The young leaves of pilkhan free are a worthy alternative to leafy vegetables in the spring season

time-read
3 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
FAIR PRICE
Down To Earth

FAIR PRICE

Using a calculator, Uttar Pradesh scientifically fixes fee for transporting faecal sludge to treatment plants

time-read
3 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
THE FOREVER POLLUTANT
Down To Earth

THE FOREVER POLLUTANT

From production to usage to disposal, plastic is a threat to those who come in its contact SIDDHARTH GHANSHYAM SINGH

time-read
7 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
Seeds from the past
Down To Earth

Seeds from the past

For a decade,200 villages in Odisha have conserved and grown 190 indigenous rice and millet varieties with proven climate resilience

time-read
6 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
TESTING TIMES
Down To Earth

TESTING TIMES

While the world is trying to identify uniform tests to measure soil biodiversity, it still needs investment and infrastructure to make them available to all

time-read
4 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
BREAKING NEW GROUND
Down To Earth

BREAKING NEW GROUND

Soil health is typically measured by its nutrient content, by presence of elements like nitrogen and phosphorus. No country in the world measures it in terms of soil biodiversity-a counting of underground faunal populations and microorganisms.

time-read
8 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
PRIME TRIGGER
Down To Earth

PRIME TRIGGER

Heat stress dominates debate on the causes of a mysterious chronic kidney disease that continues to baffle health experts and is on the rise globally

time-read
5 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
Coral catastrophe
Down To Earth

Coral catastrophe

Consistent ocean heating puts global corals at risk of mass bleaching in 2024

time-read
4 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024
CHIPKO A DISTANT MEMORY
Down To Earth

CHIPKO A DISTANT MEMORY

Whenever a dictionary of green terms is written, no matter in what language, it will contain at least one Hindi word-Chipko, which means to hug.

time-read
6 Minuten  |
April 16, 2024