Is a gluten-free product healthier than whole yogurt? This is a big question that few Belgians know how to decide despite the extensive information on the packaging and labels of products in supermarkets. This is the clear finding of a WW study which shows that Belgians consciously try to see things more clearly since 44% of them consult the label of products to determine whether they are healthy or not. They do this using nutritional information such as Nutri-Score (46%), nutritional values ​​(53%) or based on statements such as “light” or “less sweet” (49%). . But three quarters of respondents (77%) say, however, that it is not easy to determine if a given product is indeed healthy.

“Eight out of 10 Belgians say that for them a healthy lifestyle means healthy eating. But food producers do not make it easy for them: labels remain complex. There is a real need for greater clarity”Protests Olivier De Greve, CEO of WW Benelux.

Tips for better reading

Valerie Mattheussens, dietician at WW gives some tips for making the best choices: it is better to focus on nutritional values ​​per 100g to compare; the ingredients are sorted by decreasing weight. the ingredient listed first is the one with the richest product. “Beware of the notion of no added sugar! Manufacturers often come up with clever names to avoid this word. When the name of an ingredient ends in “-ose” (glucose, fructose) or it contains the word syrup ”(from dates, rice), you can deduce that there are added sugars in the product. product, ”says Valerie. In contrast, the products also contain a lot of hidden salt: track down the word “sodium”.

Finally, the well-known little phrases “Rich in fiber”, “light”, “low in sugars” cover real standards: light is 30% less fat or sugar or calories than a comparable variant. . “Low fat” means less than 3% fat for solid food products and less than 1.5% fat for liquid products. With the exception of semi-skimmed milk, which contains 1.8% fat per 100 ml. “Fat Free” or “Fat Free” means the product contains less than 0.5% fat. “Low in sodium” or “low in salt” means that the product contains a maximum of 0.12 grams of sodium or 0.3 grams of salt per 100 grams or 100 ml.