How Front-of-Package Claims Mislead Shoppers, and What to Read Instead

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A new PRiMER study that analyzed nearly 600 packaged foods found that front-of-package (FOP) health claims like "high in fiber" or "heart healthy" often fail to match the product's nutritional quality
Ultraprocessed foods were the biggest offenders, displaying the most "health" labels while remaining high in sugar, sodium, and refined fats
Marketing phrases such as "keto," "gluten-free," or "organic" can make a product sound healthy when it isn't
When checking a Nutrition Facts label, begin with the serving size and calories, then look at the % Daily Value for key nutrients
Learning to read nutrition labels helps you make confident daily food choices that support heart health, steady energy, and long-term wellness

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you being nudged into unhealthy choices by words like heart healthy or keto on the front of a box?
0:06.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy to listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go.
0:15.0	No reading required. Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:20.0	Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:23.6	I'm Ethan Foster, and today you'll learn how front-of-package claims can mislead you
0:27.6	and what to read instead, so your daily choices match your health goals.
0:31.6	I'm Alara Sky, and we're focusing on new evidence showing why marketing badges
0:36.6	don't reliably reflect nutrition quality,
0:39.3	plus a simple label reading framework you can use every time you shop.
0:43.3	A recent primary study examined nearly 600 foods and beverages sold online and asked a clear question.
0:50.3	Do front-of-package health claims actually track with nutrition quality?
0:55.0	The concern was straightforward.
0:57.0	When you see big promises on the front, you may assume a product is good for you, even when it isn't.
1:02.0	Researchers analyzed items across 122 subcategories in 11 food groups, and categorized three types of front claims.
1:11.9	Nutrient content, general function, and the small number of FDA authorized health claims.
1:18.2	They then scored each product's healthfulness using Nutriscore, which weighs calories,
1:23.6	sugar, saturated fat, sodium, fiber, and protein, on a scale where a lower score is better.
1:31.5	In practice, nutrient content claims dominated, appearing more than a thousand times,
1:36.7	while FDA authorized health claims and general function claims were rare.
1:41.3	That skew meant most of what you see on packages are simplified nutrient call-outs,
1:46.0	like high in fiber or low-fat rather than robust disease risk statements.
1:51.0	The key finding, more claims did not consistently mean better nutrition.
	...

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