The “Heart Healthy” scam

27. July 2008 William Davis (1)
Like many scams, this one follows a predictable formula.

It is a formula widely practiced among food manufacturers, ever since food products began to jockey for position based on nutritional composition and purported health benefits.

First, identify a component of food, such as wheat fiber or oat bran, that confers a health benefit. Then, validate the healthy effect in clinical studies. Wheat fiber, for instance, promotes bowel regularity and reduces the likelihood of colon cancer. Oat bran reduces blood cholesterol levels.

Second, commercialize food products that contain the purported healthy ingredient. Wheat bran becomes Shredded Wheat, Fiber One, and Raisin Bran cereals and an endless choice of “healthy” breads. Oat bran becomes Honey Bunches of Oats, Quaker’s Instant Oatmeal, and granola bars. Even if many unhealthy components are added, as long as the original healthy product is included, the manufacturer continues to lay claim to healthy effects.

Third, as long as the original healthy ingredient remains, get an agency like the American Heart Association to provide an endorsement: “American Heart Association Tested and Approved.”

The last step is the easiest: just pay for it, provided the product meets a set of requirements, no matter how lax.

You will find the American Heart Association certification on Quaker Instant Oatmeal Crunch Apples and Cinnamon. Each serving contains 39 grams carbohydrate, 16 grams sugar (approximately 4 teaspoons), and 2.5 grams fat of which 0.5 grams are saturated. Ingredients include sugar, corn syrup, flaked corn, and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Curiously, of the 4 grams of fiber per serving, only 1 gram is the soluble variety, the sort that reduces cholesterol blood levels. (This relatively trivial quantity of soluble fiber is unlikely to impact significantly on cholesterol levels, since a minimum 3 grams of soluble fiber is the quantity required, as demonstrated in a number of clinical studies.) Nonetheless, this sugar product proudly wears the AHA endorsement.

Thus, a simple component of food that provides genuine benefit mushrooms into a cornucopia of new products with added ingredients: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, carageenan, raisins, wheat flour, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, etc. What may have begun as a health benefit can quickly deteriorate into something that is patently unhealthy.

There’s a clever variation on this formula. Rather than developing products that include a healthy component, create products that simply lack an unhealthy ingredient, such as saturated or trans fats or sodium.

Thus, a ¾-cup serving of Cocoa Puffs cereal contains 120 calories, no fiber, 14 grams (3 ½ teaspoons) of sugar—but is low in fat and contains no saturated fat. Proudly displayed on the box front is an American Heart Association stamp of approval. It earned this stamp of approval because Cocoa Puffs was low in saturated, trans, and total fat and sodium. Likewise, Cookie Crisp cereal, featuring Chip the Wolf, a cartoon wolf in a red sweater (“The great taste of chocolate chip cookies and milk!”), has 160 calories, 26 grams carbohydrate and 19 grams (4½ teaspoons) of sugar per cup, and 0 grams fiber—but only 1.0 gram fat, none saturated, thus the AHA check mark. (Promise margarine, made with hydrogenated vegetable oil and therefore containing significant quantities of trans fats, was originally on the list, as well, but removed when the trans fat threshold was added to the AHA criteria.)

It is this phenomenon, the sleight of hand of taking a healthy component and tacking on a list of ingredients manageable only by food scientists, or asserting that a product is healthy just because it lacks a specific undesirable ingredient, that is a major factor in the extraordinary and unprecedented boom in obesity in the U.S. Imagine the chemical industry were permitted such latitude: “Our pesticide is deemed safe by the USDA because it contains no PCBs.” Such is the ill-conceived logic of the AHA Heart-Check program the "Heart Healthy" claims.

It’s best we keep in mind the observations of New York University nutritionist and author of the book, Food Politics, Marion Nestle, that “food companies—just like companies that sell cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, or any other commodity—routinely place the needs of stock holders over considerations of public health. Food companies will make and market any product that sells, regardless of its nutritional value or its effect on health. In this regard, food companies hardly differ from cigarette companies. They lobby Congress to eliminate regulations perceived as unfavorable; they press federal regulatory agencies not to enforce such regulations; and when they don’t like regulatory decisions, they file lawsuits. Like cigarette companies, food companies co-opt food and nutrition experts by supporting professional organizations and research, and they expand sales by marketing directly to children, members of minority groups, and people in develop countries—whether or not the products are likely to improve people’s diets.”

Qualms over just how heart-healthy their products are? Doubtful.
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Comments (1) -

  • jimray

    7/28/2008 3:26:00 PM |

    I want to print this out and post it on the wall of my office.  You have made clear what I have been trying to articulate for years. The labels do not always tell the truth. And ultimately it goes back to money. Thank you.

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Sun green tea

Sun green tea

21. July 2011 William Davis (11)
Here's a great way to enjoy the health benefits of green tea during the summer: sun green tea.


I dropped two green tea bags into approximately one-half gallon of cold water in a clear glass jar. I placed the jar in the sun (with top on) for four hours, then brought it into the kitchen. I served it as iced tea with a slice of lemon and mint leaf.

The sun green tea was a smoother than standard green tea brewed with hot water. Ordinarily, if you brew hot green tea for more than 3-5 minutes, it becomes more bitter or tannic. This sun green tea, despite steeping for four hours, was not the least bit bitter or tannic.

The green tea lasted well for about 48 hours, more than enough to enjoy several glasses per day.
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Comments (11) -

  • Eric

    7/21/2011 1:53:59 AM |

    Isn't there some bacteria that grows in sun tea?

  • Shreela

    7/21/2011 2:41:53 AM |

    I believe Eric is correct, although sinus problems tell me not to search for it right now LOL
    Try overnight tea in the fridge instead.
    http://www.theyummylife.com/blog/2010/08/22/How+to+Make+Refrigerator+Iced+Tea

  • Againstthegrain

    7/21/2011 6:46:21 AM |

    I have to agree with Shreela, as I have had the misfortune of drinking sun tea that had been at room temp for too long during warm weather.  Steep and store the tea cold in the fridge and discard it after two or three days if it isn't consumed, or at the first sign of anything floating in the tea.  The bacteria that grows in tea brewed at room temp (or warmer) can cause an unpleasantly strong attack of the "runs".  

    More info about this issue:
    http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/suntea.asp

  • Joe E O

    7/21/2011 11:28:19 AM |

    Dr. Davis care to comment:

    Study: Boosting Good Cholesterol With Niacin Did Not Cut Heart Risks:
    http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/05/28/136678665/study-boosting-good-cholesterol-with-niacin-did-not-cut-heart-risks?ft=1&f=1001

    Peace
    Joe E O

  • Kent

    7/21/2011 3:10:50 PM |

    Joe E O,  I would investigate the numerous other studies that have proven the effectiveness and benefits of Niacin, before dicounting it due to skewed and flawed study you reference. Keep in mind that anytime something shows benefit over the Statin Machine, it is going to have a full out assault launched against it.

  • Randy

    7/21/2011 3:18:29 PM |

    Also good with a couple of mint tea bags thrown with the green tea. Safeway Select is very good.

  • Randy

    7/21/2011 3:19:55 PM |

    Is a warm or cold extraction as effective at pulling the antioxidants out of the tea and into the water?

  • Chris B

    7/21/2011 5:58:35 PM |

    I would second the refrigerator tea suggestion over sun tea.
    Also, the reason green tea can be bitter so often is that does not like water as hot as black tea and if it is brewed with the same boiling water, that is too hot for it. If you try letting it cool just a little first or not quite get to boiling, you will get a better brew. There are sites out there that will tell you proper temperatures, but I generally don't feel like pulling out the thermometer so I usually just wing it.

  • Againstthegrain

    7/31/2011 9:41:24 PM |

    Dr. Davis,

    Most of the time, brewing tea in the sun will probably be fine, especially if the tea is consumed quickly and stored in the refrigerator.  But there definitely is *potential* for problems, especially when brewing during warmer weather or prolonged storage time out of the refrigerator.  That's what happened with one batch I made a couple summers ago -  I kept the pitcher on the counter for a few days due to lack of refrigerator space, adding ice to chill the tea when I filled my glass (or just drinking the tea at room temp).  I had at least three tea refills before I connected the tea consumption to the frequent "just-in-time" trips to the loo that day.  Upon further inspection, the tea had a slightly cloudy appearance, with a large thing floating in it.    The runs stopped after I dumped the tea and switched to drinking water.  

    Now when I "cold-brew" tea I either make it in on the counter during cooler weather or in the refrigerator during warmer weather, never in the sun where the water will become warm.  I dump leftover tea after a few days if it isn't consumed, and I thoroughly wash the container.

  • Yvonne

    8/2/2011 9:38:14 AM |

    I think I'll make the sun tea the same way Dr. Davis did, so as to get that smooth green tea flavor; but I'll add the lemon to the brewed tea after I remove it from the sun (to boost its natural acidity), and decant it in smaller jars in the refrigerator. Thanks for this recipe, Dr. Davis!

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