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Foodwatch Food promoted with vitamins is often unhealthy
If there are indications on foods such as "plus valuable vitamins", many parents like to use them. After all, they want to do something good for their children. However, the consumer organization Foodwatch has now warned about products with added vitamins. Most of it is unhealthy.
Added vitamins even in sweets
While some foods are naturally healthier than others, if it says on the packaging "with valuable vitamins," then the product does not necessarily have to be better. Consumer advocates have been criticizing for a long time that many food producers provide their goods with inadmissible health promises. Allegedly added vitamins and minerals should strengthen the bones or the immune system. Even sweets are sometimes touted as a valuable contribution to nutrition. But vitamins in sweets are a "bad sales trick", as consumer advocates warned years ago. The fact that the products so advertised are usually not healthy foods has now been confirmed in a study.
Many foods are advertised with slogans like "contains valuable vitamins". The consumer organization Foodwatch found that most of these products are unhealthy. (Image: eldarnurkovic / fotolia.com) Vitamins advertised foods are usually unhealthy
According to a new consumer watchdog, Foodwatch, 90 percent of the foods advertised with vitamins are unhealthy. As the organization stated in a press release, 190 out of 214 products that advertise vitamins on the packaging in Germany are too sweet, too greasy or too salty and do not meet the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for balanced foods. Examples include "fruit gums" by Katjes, Dextro Energy, the soft drink "Powerade" by Coca-Cola and energy drinks by Rockstar and Monster. And also Müller's sweet milk drinks will be given a healthy image with vitamins.
Consumers are often misled
"The food industry artificially supplements vitamins with hundreds of tiny penny products to whitewash sweets, sugar drinks or other junk food. With vitamin advertising, consumers are deliberately misled and torpedoed their quest for a healthy diet. It has to be over, "said Michaela Kruse of Foodwatch. The consumer organization called for legislation so that only products with health messages that meet the WHO criteria for balanced foods can be promoted. It is about, for example, shares of fat, sugar, salt and the calorie content.
Germans are sufficiently supplied with vitamins
In most cases, the vitamins were artificially added to the products studied. And that despite the fact that the majority of Germans are adequately supplied with vitamins, according to the German Society for Nutrition (DGE). In some cases, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) even warns of overdosage and advises against an accumulation of foods containing vitamin A and vitamin D. "Against better knowledge, the food industry plays with the fears of consumers, because Germany is not a vitamin deficient country. For the manufacturers, this is a profitable business: sugar drinks and sweets are cheap to produce and promise high profit margins - through the artificial addition of cheap vitamins, the products can then also be marketed as being particularly healthy, "says Michaela Kruse.
Hints are often misunderstood
Foods with promised extra health benefits have long been a criticism among consumer advocates. According to a sample, the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv) 2015 complained that some health-related statements would be strengthened beyond the EU-wide permitted formulations. References such as "unsweetened" would often be misunderstood. Foods high in sugar and fat should not be advertised healthily. For years, a list of permitted health claims has been valid in the EU that must be approved and scientifically sound. (Ad)