Nutrition Tidbits Podcast - Bonnie Taub-Dix discusses which green label term really means it.



Host: Gloria Tsang, RD

Guest: Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN



With Earth Day approaching, there's a renewed interest in our food supply and how they impact the environment and our health. Dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix, author of the book Read It Before You Eat It, helps us learn which label term really means it, and which one is just marketing gimmick.







 

Transcript:

Gloria Tsang, RD: Welcome to the Nutrition Tidbits podcast. This is Gloria Tsang, Editor-in-Chief for Healthcastle.com. With Earth Day approaching, there's a renewed interest in our food supply and how they impact the environment and our health. Joining me today is dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix, author of the book Read It Before You Eat It. She is here today to help us learn which label term really means it, and which one is just marketing gimmick. Thank you for joining me Bonnie.



Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN: Hi Gloria!



Gloria Tsang, RD: Now there are so many terms that we are going to talk about so let’s just dig right in. Does organic produce mean that the product is good for the environment?



Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN: You know that really depends. Organic products are better for the environment but question is when you see the word organic on a label, is that product better for you? And the answer is that it really depends upon the product because organic is a  word that is like a health halo where a lot of people assume that organic means local and sustainable and some people even believe that organic means low in calories; which of course it doesn’t have anything to do with it because organic on a candy label still means organic candy or organic cookies, it is still the product that it is.



Gloria Tsang, RD: That’s good to know. For most of our readers, the most confusing thing about organic is that when they see organic on meat products. We often see now there is humanely treated, you know, things like that are on meat products. What about organic in meat products. What does that mean to us?



Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN: Well, organic poultry, dairy and meat and eggs usually mean that it is produced without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics. Humanely raised and slaughtered definition doesn’t tell you about the nutrition quality of the food. That really depends upon the product. And that’s the very, very important thing, probably the most important thing about organics products, is that it really is more important to look at the profile of the food. The total profile: does it contain sodium, sugar, trans fat, saturated fat. Organic shouldn’t override or supersede looking at the nutrition facts panel to see what’s really in your food.



Gloria Tsang, RD: With the local food movement, again getting back to orgnanics. Does purchasing organic food mean we are actually supporting the local economy?



Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN: No, in many cases it does but again, you have to check your label. We have so many organic products that come from other countries like China and that is far from local. So organic doesn’t mean local and also local doesn’t mean organic because there are many local farmers that may not use organic methods of raising their produce. So again, you want to look at organic, local and sustainable. Those labels should be on your food to give you the total picture.



Gloria Tsang, RD: That is a good point. So the next most confusing term is natural. I have seen this term on an array of products from snack bars to ice cream to cereals. So what does it mean when it says natural on the front of the package?



Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN: I can answer that quickly. It doesn’t mean anything. All that it means is that you are probably going to see a lov...