Bitter facts about food

TVScope: Dispatches: The Truth About Your Food , Channel 4, Thurs, January 10th, 9pm

TVScope: Dispatches: The Truth About Your Food ,Channel 4, Thurs, January 10th, 9pm

In the first of two Dispatchesprogrammes in the Big Food Fightseries, journalist Jane Moore looked at the unpalatable truth behind the nutritional benefits of so-called healthy option produce and asked, do we really know what is in our food and can we believe what it says on the packet?

As part of the investigation, three families were asked to modify their usual diet for a month to compare the nutritional values of economy products, more expensive "healthy option" ranges, and unadulterated home-cooked meals.

The Spenser family cooked from scratch with food sourced locally, supplementing their diet with eggs and vegetables from their back garden. In contrast, the Eadies used expensive, ready-prepared foods from "healthy option" ranges, topped up with fresh fruit and vegetables; while the Bagarone family made do with food from economy ranges, with a bit of fruit and veg on the side.

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At the end of the experiment the fat, sugar and salt content of their diets were calculated with interesting results. It transpired that the Eadie family's "healthy option" diet was not only much more expensive, but contained higher amounts of sugar and fat than either the home-cooked or economy foods.

The commercial success of British premium supermarket ranges is estimated to be in the region of £5 billion, with £2 billion of that accounting for ready-made meals alone. But the truth is that higher prices do not always mean greater nutritional value.

And when it comes to the nutritional claims made by companies, it seems you should really take what it says on the label with a pinch of salt. But with a bowl of All Bran containing more salt than a bowl of ready-salted crisps, maybe even that's not a good idea.

No two companies were found to use the same nutritional rating system, making it virtually impossible for consumers to make an informed choice when comparing different brands. Beware when calculating the calorie content of an "average" portion, as manufacturers routinely underestimated this portion size by up to 30 per cent, leading to the consumption of even more calories. Given the obesity epidemic we are now facing, this is not good news.

To add insult to injury, many cereal manufacturers use guidelines for recommended daily intake of fats, sugars and salt for adults on their packaging, despite the fact that the majority of these foods are aimed at children.

Health-conscious consumers have been making the move from fast foods to what they have been led to believe are better choices. But the message is, "healthy options" may not be the healthiest option after all.

• Review by Marion Kerr