Consumer interest in omega-3 is not as high this year as it was in the 2005-2007 time frame. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been inundated by so many omega-3 messages on the news, web, and supermarket that most of us have simply come to accept the easy to remember association:  “omega-3 = good”.  In the same time period we also learned that “trans-fat = evil”.

It’s a bit like Star Wars , what with the dark and light side of the force. The “force” here is fatty acids, or what dietary fats (animal fat and vegetable oils) are composed of.

While the trans-fat message is quite simple at the practical level – just avoid products containing it – with omega 3 things are a bit more complicated. And when something is not as simple as good/bad, you can be sure there’s lots of money to be made off of the public’s ignorance. Enter the thousands of processed products now marked with “omega-3″ in large font type on the front of the package.

The analogy to Star Wars ends here because not all omega-3’s are created equal. Which means you may be buying a product fortified with omega-3 that has almost no health benefits for you. Yet you will likely be paying more than you would have for the standard, un-enriched version. In order to better understand what’s going on, here’s a quick primer on omega-3, in 10 bullet points. Read more…

Minute Maid, a subsidiary of the Coca Cola Company best known for its lines of fruit juices, has been reprimanded, albeit lightly, by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB). NAD found that commercials for it’s “Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored 100% Juice Blend” made memory boosting claims which are not scientifically supported.

The commercials (see above an example) are actually quite cute, but are they truthful? And what exactly is in this confusingly-long-and-hard-to-remember-product-name blend? Read more…

The creative marketers at Nestle have been pushing various flavors of Juicy Juice liquid candy at parents for several years with great success. But it wasn’t enough.

Always under pressure to sell more and grow (hey it’s the American way!), they now present us with a new line of juice that will turn our tiny tots into little Einsteins. From the Washington Post Blog:

A big blue banner across the front of the package screams, “Brain Development,” while the smaller type just above the banner says, “DHA — A Building Block for”…

Imagine the eager moms and dads who’ll grab that Juicy Juice in hopes of making their kids just that much smarter. DHA, derived from fatty fish and other omega-3 fatty-acid-rich food sources, is indeed credited with promoting neurological health among babies, and it’s been added to many infant formulas for nearly a decade, though there’s no real science showing that DHA makes anyone smarter.

We decided to take a look under the hood… Read more…

Kellogg's LiveBright Bar

Kellogg’s has started selling a new snack bar, LiveBright, fortified with stuff that’s good for our brain. From Kellogg’s PR machine:

We drink milk to promote strong bones. We eat more fiber to promote digestive health. We eat more whole grains, fiber and antioxidants for heart health. We exercise daily to stay active and increase agility. Americans are redefining the way we age by proactively taking charge of all aspects of our health and nutrition. Why should our approach to brain health be any different? Kellogg Company’s new Live Bright(TM) brain-health bars with 100mg of DHA Omega-3 help support brain health like calcium helps support bone health, offering another way consumers can take charge of their health….

What you need to know:

Live Bright Nutrition Panel

DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish such as salmon. Eggs are also  fortified with omega-3. While adding vitamins to snacks is certainly not harmful, let’s not kid ourselves that this is a health-food. In fact, take a look at the ingredient list and at the nutrition label. With 150 calories, 18% of the recommended Daily Value of saturated fat ,and 3 teaspoonfuls of sugars per bar, this is about as nutritious as a Twix bar. And can someone please count the number of ingredients in here? Andy Bellatti sums in up nicely in his blog, Small Bites -

If you’re going to reach for a DHA fortified food, I would rather you pick up DHA fortified eggs, which contain a superior nutritional profile to what is, essentially, a candy bar.

What to do at the supermarket:

If you’re getting a candy bar, choose the one that tastes best. (Twix anyone?). But limit yourself to a very small number of snacks per shopping trip. Don’t be fooled to looking for health products in the snack aisle of the supermarket.

Get Fooducated: RSS Subscription or Email Subscription