Light, Low fat and fat free products healthy or not?

Have you ever bought a food because the package mentioned that the item was “Light”, “low-fat” or “fat-free”? The true meaning behind these terms is not always obvious to the shopper that’s why it’s very important to understand what these claims actually mean so you can make informed decisions about the food you buy for yourself and your family.

Light products

When a food label uses the term "light" or "lite" it indicates that a food has one 25% less calories or 50% less fat, or 50% less sodium than a comparable product. And this is actually something really healthy and saves us a lot of calories for example, a tablespoon of light mayonnaise contains 45 calories in comparison to the regular mayonnaise that contains 90 calories per tablespoon.

However, something to watch out for is that sometimes the term light is could refer to color  or taste of the food. For example brown sugar labels could have the claim light on them meaning they have a “light” color. Another example is the olive oil and the claim “light” on it meaning it has a lighter flavor.

So unless a food clearly and transparently states on the label exactly what the claim “light” is referring to, this is probably used for marketing reasons more than any health benefits.

Low Fat products

Low fat products on the other hand means that these products contain at least 25% less fat than regular versions of those foods.

Sometimes Low fat is also taste-free; so, in order to compensate for the lost taste, food companies use a lot of additives such as sodium or sugar which makes the product extremely unhealthy and when comparing it to the regular product, it may contain the same amount of calories.

An Australian research comparing “low fat” products with regular products found that while these products were much lower in fat than the “full fat” equivalent, the types of foods in this category were higher in calories than other food products.[1]

Fat Free products

“Fat-free” is allowed on foods with less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving. “Free” can also be used in reference to fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, sugars, and calories.

The problem with the word “free” in food products is that food companies exploit it for marketing reasons trying to show privilege of their product over other products. Some products like honey naturally doesn’t contain any fat; however, you see some honey jars labelled “Fat Free” this is actually a fact not an added benefit to the product. Another example is  some vegetable oils, such as soy, canola or corn oil labelled, “Cholesterol-free” this is also a fact since no foods of plant origin contain cholesterol[2].

Tips for Buying low fat and light Food products

Not all low fat or light products are unhealthy. Below are some tips that will help you choose your products wisely.

·      Read food labels. Before buying low fat or light product, try to compare the food label of the regular product to the low fat or light product and make sure that the product is not loaded with sugar or sodium, and that it's actually lower in calories than the regular version.

·      Watch your servings. On the top of the food label, you can find the serving size. A serving of low-fat cookies for example is only two to three cookies which account for around 100 – 150 calories. If we consumed the whole packet, we will be consuming 800 to 1000 calories.

·      Check the ingredient list. As a general RULE always check the first three ingredients, as they make up the majority of the product; if the first ingredients include sugar or hydrogenated oils, you can assume that the product is unhealthy.

[1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/two-important-exceptions-to-the-relationship-between-energy-density-and-fat-content-foods-with-reducedfat-claims-and-highfat-vegetablebased-dishes/33A00C685632A0500BE5EBDFDCFDC20D

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209851/