I’ll admit it: I’ve fallen for food labels before. One time I was in a rush at the supermarket and grabbed a cereal proudly labelled “Multigrain.” In my head, that meant plenty of wholesome whole grains.
Later on, when I actually checked the ingredients, I realised it wasn’t the case at all. Multigrain simply means there’s more than one type of grain, and they can still be mostly refined.
Has something like this happened to you? You buy something thinking it’s a healthier choice, only to realise afterwards that the label wasn’t telling you the full story.
Food labels are supposed to help us make better decisions, but the reality is they can be confusing, clever, and sometimes downright misleading. In this post, I’ll walk you through some of the most common tricks brands use on their packaging and explain how to spot them, so you don’t get caught out like I did.
Why food labels can be so confusing
Here’s the thing: food labels aren’t supposed to lie. In both the UK and the US, there are strict rules to make sure packaging doesn’t deliberately mislead people. Certain claims (like “high protein” or “low fat”) have clear definitions that companies are meant to stick to. So technically, brands are playing by the rules.
But that doesn’t stop them from using clever wording, design, and buzzwords to make products look healthier than they really are. This is what creates the health halo effect – the impression that something is good for you, when in reality the nutrition facts tell a different story.
In a moment I’ll show you some of the most common tricks you’ll come across (and how to spot them). (And if you’d like a simple way to avoid all of these traps, I’ll share more about that further down.)
Examples of misleading food labels you’ll see every week
Once you start paying closer attention, you’ll notice the same marketing tricks popping up again and again. They look convincing on the front of the pack, but the details on the back often tell a very different story.
These are some of the most common examples of misleading food labels and nutrition labels you’ll see in shops every week:
“100%”… 100% of what, exactly?
Brands love to put “100%” in big letters because it instantly sounds reassuring, but you always need to ask: 100% of what?
- “100% juice” – This can be either not-from-concentrate (freshly pressed) or from concentrate (water removed and then added back later). In both cases, it’s legally juice with nothing else added. Kubus 100% Apple Juice is one example.
- Made from “100% chicken breast” (Birds Eye Chicken Nuggets) The pack says “Our chicken nuggets will always be made from 100% chicken breast & nothing more.” Sounds like each nugget is pure chicken, but the ingredients show chicken breast 51%, plus flour, oil, starch, salt, spices, and flavourings. The meat is 100% breast, but the product itself is only about half chicken.
- “100% Great British potatoes” (Walkers Crisps) – Refers to where the potatoes come from, not how healthy the finished product is.
“No added sugar”… but still sweet?
“No added sugar” sounds like a green light, but it doesn’t mean sugar-free. It simply means no extra sugar was added during production, not that the product is low in sugar overall. Sometimes the sugar is replaced with artificial sweeteners, which come with their own health concerns. Some examples:
- Juice drinks and nectars – A carton may say “no added sugar,” but fruit juice naturally contains sugar. For example, a “no added sugar” apple juice drink can still have 4–5 g sugar per 100 ml (from the juice itself) and often uses sweeteners like sucralose to boost flavour.
- Yoghurts – Brands often highlight “no added sugar” on yoghurts, but the pot may still contain fruit purées, concentrates, or sweeteners that keep it tasting sweet. One such example is Activia Peach No Added Sugar Gut Health Yoghurt.
- Sauces – Tomato ketchup or pasta sauces sometimes carry “no added sugar” claims. In many cases, sugar is replaced with sweeteners or extra fruit concentrate to achieve the same sweetness. Example: Heinz Tomato Ketchup Zero Added Sugar & Salt
Next time you see “no added sugar” on a label, ask yourself: What did they use instead? Is it sweeteners, fruit purée, or dried fruit? And remember, artificial sweeteners come with their own health concerns, so they’re not necessarily a better option.
“Natural” & “natural flavours”
“Natural” is one of the most overused words in food marketing. It usually describes the source of an ingredient (or flavour), not the overall health of the product.
- “100% natural ingredients” (snack bars) – Bars made with fruit and nuts often use this claim. True, the ingredients may be natural, but that doesn’t mean the product is low in sugar or calories. Nakd bars, for example, are all natural with no added sugar, but because they rely on dried fruit, they’re still high in natural sugars (best enjoyed in moderation).
- “Natural flavourings” (soft drinks): Coca-Cola Original Taste lists “natural flavourings including caffeine” – yet it’s still a high-sugar soft drink. The phrase describes the flavour source, not the nutrition.
- “Natural flavourings” (crisps) – Walkers Marmite crisps contain natural flavouring, but they’re still fried, salty snacks. Again, “natural” in this context refers only to the flavour, not whether the food is a healthy choice.
Reality check: “Natural” can be perfectly fine (plain live yoghurt, nuts, whole fruit). The point is: natural ≠ automatically healthy, especially when products rely on dried fruit or added sugars for sweetness.
“High protein” (but ultra-processed)
Protein is a buzzword right now, and plenty of foods proudly display “high protein” on the front. The claim itself is real — to use it, a product must meet specific criteria — but it says nothing about how processed the food is, or what else is inside.
- Protein bars – Many “high protein” bars pack in 20 g of protein but also come with long lists of ingredients: sweeteners, sugar alcohols, gums, and protein isolates. They’re marketed as a healthy choice but are often closer to a sweetened confectionery bar in terms of processing. One example is Grenade Oreo Protein Bar.
- Protein yoghurts and puddings – Popular high-protein yoghurts and puddings (such as Muller Myprotein Chocolate High Protein Pudding) can be loaded with artificial sweeteners, thickeners, and flavourings. They do provide protein, but that doesn’t automatically make them a wholesome, minimally processed food.
“Light / Reduced” — lighter than what?
“Light” or “reduced” doesn’t mean a product is low in fat, sugar, or calories — only that it has less of something compared to a standard version. That comparison can be misleading if the original product was already high in fat or sugar.
- Mayonnaise – Regular mayo has around 70–80% fat (≈10–12 g per tablespoon). Light versions cut this to about 30–35% fat (≈4–5 g per tablespoon). So it is lighter, but it’s still a fatty spread, and some brands add sugar or starch to balance the texture.
- Soft drinks – “Reduced sugar” drinks often replace sugar with artificial sweeteners. They contain fewer calories than the regular version, but the sweetness is still there, just from different sources.
Next time you see “light” or “reduced,” ask yourself: lighter than what? The only way to know is by checking the nutrition label and seeing what the numbers actually look like.
“Gluten-free” ≠ nutrient-dense
“Gluten-free” is an important safety standard for people with coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity. But for everyone else, the label can create a health halo – it doesn’t automatically mean the food is nutritious.
- Gluten-free biscuits – Often made with refined starches (rice or potato flour) and added fats or sugars to replace gluten’s texture, leaving them just as sugary and calorie-dense as regular biscuits.
- Gluten-free snack bars – Marketed as a healthy alternative, but many are still ultra-processed and high in sugar or syrups, only without gluten.
Gluten-free is about what’s absent, not what’s good for you. Unless you need to avoid gluten for medical reasons, it’s better to judge these foods by their overall nutrition.
“Made with real fruit” — how much fruit, really?
“Made with real fruit” sounds wholesome, but the actual amount can be tiny compared to the rest of the product.
- Fruit drinks – Capri-Sun Orange contains just 10% fruit juice, the rest is water, sugar, and flavourings.
- Kids’ drinks – Robinsons Fruit Shoot Summer Fruits lists apple juice (5%), strawberry juice (2%), and raspberry juice (1%) — a small percentage overall.
- Fruit snacks – Fruit Bowl Peelers are “made with real fruit,” but that fruit is puréed and concentrated, making them as sugary as many sweets.
Some products genuinely are only fruit – like BEAR Yoyos (apples, pears, and a small % berries) – but even here, the natural sugars are very concentrated, so they’re best eaten in moderation.
Serving sizes can mislead
Serving sizes are another way labels can give the wrong impression. A bag of crisps might show nutrition “per 30 g serving,” even though the pack is 150 g — and most people eat the whole bag. Chocolate bars and soft drinks often do the same, shrinking the serving so the numbers look smaller.
Always check whether the serving size reflects how much you’d actually eat, not just what’s written on the label.
“Multigrain” ≠ whole grain
“Multigrain” just means a product is made with more than one type of grain. It doesn’t mean those grains are whole. A multigrain cereal, bread, or wrap can still be mostly refined flour with only a small amount of wholegrain mixed in. (I fell for this trick myself once.)
To be sure you’re actually getting wholegrains, look for whole wheat or wholemeal high up in the ingredients list. With oats, just seeing “oats” is usually enough, since they’re typically sold in whole form.
Marketing is not nutrition
Food packaging is designed to sell, not to educate. Words like “light,” “natural,” “multigrain,” or “no added sugar” are carefully chosen to make products sound healthier than they really are. And once that health halo kicks in, it’s easy to drop the item in your basket without thinking twice.
That’s why misleading food labels matter: they can shape your choices, your diet, and even how much you spend – often without you realising it. The good news is that once you know the tricks, you start to see them everywhere, and they lose their power.
A simple solution (and what’s coming)
The truth is, you don’t need to spend ages decoding every label in the supermarket. With the right approach, you can spot the red flags in seconds and feel confident about what goes in your basket.
I’ve put together a practical method that shows you exactly how to do this — step by step. It’s all in my new ebook, Label Decoder, which is launching very soon.
If you’d like a sneak peek, you can download the first chapter for free here. And if you’re not already on my email list, make sure to subscribe — my subscribers will be the first to know when the ebook goes live, and they’ll get a special launch offer too.
Final thoughts
Food labels can be clever, but once you know the common tricks, you’ll never look at them the same way again. A little awareness goes a long way in choosing food that’s truly good for you.
