A new Western Health Board supermarket tour helps people to look beyond the label when buying healthy food. Michelle McDonagh reports
Irish consumers may be more spoilt for choice than ever before at their local supermarkets, but faced with a bewildering array of cleverly marketed products, they are also more confused than ever about what to buy to stay healthy.
The Western Health Board's (WHB) Community Nutrition and Dietetic Service has set up supermarket tours which are designed to clear up some of the confusion for shoppers.
On a quiet Tuesday morning, community dietitian Grainne Quinlan leads four men and three women on a tour through the aisles of Dunnes Stores in the Westside Shopping Centre in Galway city. The small group are all from the city or county.
Shopping tours have been running in the UK for many years, but the WHB programme is the first of its type in Ireland available to everybody in the community. There is a more limited programme in operation in Dublin which is linked with the cardiac rehabilitation programme at St James's Hospital.
"The aim is to teach consumers everything from reading food labels and understanding nutrition claims, to planning balanced meals and selecting nutritious foods in every aisle of the supermarket," Quinlan explains.
Since the pilot programme was set up in March, 12 tours have taken place covering 'Shopping and Diabetes', 'Shopping the Low Fat Way' and 'Shopping for a Healthy Heart' - key areas that contribute to ill health in Ireland.
Armed with an information pack which includes a food labelling guide that participants are encouraged to look at during the 'Shopping and Diabetes' tour, we set off for the fruit and vegetable section where Quinlan points out that Ireland is the lowest consumer of fruit and vegetables in the EU.
She recommends four or five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but advises diabetics to opt for lower sugar fruits such as apples, oranges, just ripe bananas, pears, kiwis and strawberries instead of grapes and dried fruits which raise sugar levels very quickly.
"Tinned fruit is a very good substitute if you don't live near a big supermarket or in winter, as long as you buy it in its own natural juice and not in syrup which is very high in sugar."
According to the food labelling guide, food containing more than 10g of sugar per 100g are considered high sugar foods - a packet of dates picked off the shelf, for example, contained 56.8g of sugar.
When it comes to vegetables, the darker the green the better, according to Quinlan who explains that frozen vegetables are just as good as fresh ones and much better than those that have been sitting in a small local shop for days.
One of the most important messages of the tour is not to be taken in by glossy packaging, clever marketing and products labelled as 'no fat' or diabetic because sometimes cheaper, own brand products are just as good, if not better, than the more expensive brands.
"There are a lot of products marketed towards diabetics, but these tend to be very expensive and packed full of artificial sweeteners that can upset the whole digestive system. You are better off going for low sugar products than something marketed as diabetic at four times the price."
The Galway Community Nutrition and Dietic Service is located at West City centre, Seamus Quirke Road, Galway, tel: 091-546449.