Seriously...Frito-Lay Gets A Health Claim?

That's right folks!! The maker of Frito's, Tostito's and Dorito's, among many others, applied for and was granted a health claim for fats. As a result, food manufacturers (not just Frito-Lay) will be allowed to claim that their products can reduce the risk of heart disease if they've replaced saturated fats with unsaturated ones. The actual claim states the following:

"replacing saturated fat with similar amounts of unsaturated fats may reduce the risk of heart disease. To achieve this benefit, total daily calories should not increase."

Research has shown this to be true, but unfortunately many consumers will get a mixed message. It's very easy to substitute out one food component for another in the context of a research protocol, but most folks will have no idea if they've actually done this in the "real world." Still others will probably consider these foods "healthy," which would be making a mistake. Is this claim implying that I need to eat Dorito's to reduce my risk of heart disease?? Obviously not, but I'm sure we all know people that will get that very message.

I'm not so sure the DFA was looking out for us on this one!! LOL

Brian Zehetner MS,RD,CSCS