Don't Believe the Hype: On "phony" Health Foods

It says "healthy" right on the label. It screams "nutritious!" all over the packaging.
From cereal to crackers, soup to yogurt, manufacturers are hyping a range of "health" products with slick marketing campaigns. But do most packaged health foods really live up to their advertising? Not quite, according to one major grocery chain. Fed up with deceptive labeling on the part of food-makers, this grocer is taking matters into its own hands, using a new rating system to grade a wide range of packaged food and beverage products. The results may shock you...

The New England-based chain, Hannaford Brothers, recently announced the results of its review of more than 27,000 popular supermarket products. Rating the nutritional content of the products on a scale of 0-3 stars, with three stars being the best, Hannaford Brothers grocers reached a surprising conclusion: 77% of the so-called "health foods" available in its stores received a zero-star rating. Among the "healthy" items to flunk out were many of Americans' most popular brands, including Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine frozen dinners, Campbell's soups, and Yoplait and Dannon yogurt cups.