Labels Aren't The Whole Story

As nutritionists say ingredient types matter as much as the amount, it begs the question if foods with short ingredient lists are really ‘healthy’

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At the end of a long day, who has time to check the detailed nutrition information on every single product they toss into their shopping basket? To eat healthily, some people prefer to stick to a simple rule: choose products with a short ingredient list. The idea is foods with just a few ingredients are less processed, more "natural" and therefore healthy.

But is this always the case? Here's what the length of an ingredient list can and can't tell you about nutrition—and what else to look for.

How ingredient lists work

You can find an ingredient list on most packaged food labels, telling you the number and type of ingredients involved in making that food. Ingredients must be listed in order of ingoing weight. This means items at the beginning of the list are those that make up the bulk of the product. Those at the end make up the least.

Food labels also include a nutrition information panel, which tells you the quantity of key nutrients (energy, protein, total carbohydrates, sugars, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium) per serving.

Whole foods can be packaged, too

Products with just one, two, or three items in their ingredient list are generally in a form that closely reflects the food when it was taken from the farm. So even though they come in packaging, they could be considered whole foods.