Seeing Through The Pretenders

With so much emphasis these days on making smart eating choices, it’s no surprise that all kinds of food companies are vying to get your attention. They use every trick in the book to convince you that what they’re offering is exactly the kind of healthy smart-fruit juice you need to add to your daily routine. There’s a lot of trust involved in letting a company decide what to put in the food and drinks you consume every day, and unfortunately not all companies are as careful with that trust as they should be. Luckily, food industry regulations are in place in many countries to set strict rules about what those companies can say and print to convince you to buy their product. In the United States, unless a fruit juice product contains nothing but 100% pure juice, it has to include a modifying word like "drink” or "beverage” after juice, to let you know that there’s something else inside. In Canada, if a drink has less than 25% pure fruit juice in it, it can’t use the word "juice” in its name at all. By 2018, the FDA regulations will become more strict and labels will be added of how much "Added Sugar” is in the product you’re consuming.

These things provide a quick, easy way to tell roughly what you’re getting – or not getting – when you pick up a major label juice product at the store. Another great way to tell if what you’re about to buy is healthy would be to look at the ingredient list, which tells you what’s inside in order from largest amount to smallest. If the fruit on the picture on the front isn’t the first thing on that list, it’s time to start asking questions about what you’re about to buy. Many companies will try to fool you with gorgeous, creative labels & words on the front of the bottles. Don’t be fooled! Make the healthy choices for food & drinks.