Concentrate, Not from Concentrate:  These terms refer to a processing method used for juices.  To concentrate a juice, you take out the water and allow the consumer to add it back in.  Concentrating juices came about as a way to ship juice across the country without having to pay so much.  The majority of fruit juice is water, and if a company can remove the water they save money on shipping and packaging costs.  Juices that are labeled “not from concentrate” are not necessarily healthier, either.  Some nutrients deteriorate over time due to processing, or just due to light and air.  Nutrients like folic acid have actually been shown to appear in higher levels in concentrated juices when compared to not-from-concentrate juices.  Ultimately, freshly squeezed juices are the best, but they are not always practical or easy to make.

Doctor-Recommended, Parent-tested, Kid-approved, Made by a Schoolteacher: None of these phrases mean anything at all.  So what if a doctor recommended a product?  We have all heard of doctors that do or support crazy things, or are a quack at best.  “Parent tested” means that probably someone who was an adult and hard up for some cash tried their product, or better yet, the people who created the product tested it on themselves.  “Kid approved” is a funny one.  I can stamp “kid approved” on a box of sugar cubes or anything in the candy isle.  There are even some foods that we consider healthy that . . . gasp . . . kids might actually like.  All it means is that some kid somewhere gave his stamp of approval, or a grunt while watching television.  “Made by a schoolteacher” is another funny one.  So what?  Since not all schoolteachers everywhere are the authority on everything, all this means is someone trying to add credibility to a product in a way that sounds quality but, when you think about it, doesn’t make sense.

Grass Fed: This term probably causes more confusion than anything.  What does it mean for a cow to be grass-fed, or what is the big deal with a cow being grass fed?  By definition, a cow can be “grass-fed” and never see the light of day.  All that is referred to with this term is that the cattle ate grass.  In recent years, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) developed a certification program requiring the cattle to see the pasture at some time in their lives.  Some cattle are called “grass fed” when in actuality they were only “grass finished,” or fed grass for the last 90-160 days of their lives.  Grass fed animals should be fed grass throughout their whole lives, but this is not necessarily required by the definition.

Another confusing point created by this definition is the difference between “grass fed” and “organic.”  Cattle considered “organic” are those fed a diet of organic grain.  Beef can be organic without ever tasting grass in their lives.  While some grass fed is organic, not all organic beef is grass fed.  While this term contains a lot of fluff, it is something that is being reworked and should become less confusing in the near future.

Low Calorie/Low Sodium:  For a food to be labeled as “low calorie” it needs to contain less than 40 calories per serving and to be labeled as “low sodium” it needs to have 140 milligrams or less of sodium per serving.  On the surface, these labels seem to be quality labels with not much wiggle room, but they can easily be manipulated.  They both refer to a given number of calories or sodium in a “serving.”  In a lot of cases, serving size is defined, but a lot of the serving sizes are outdated.  Who, seriously, goes to the freezer and says, “I think I’ll have ½ of a cup of ice cream” or who would say, “That can of soda pop looks good, I can’t wait to drink ⅓ of it.”   Manufacturers and packagers also get around this issue by changing the size of their product.  They’ll make their cookies smaller so that they have less calories and can meet the requirement.

Good Source, High:  These terms do have a defined meaning relating to food quality.  For a food to be a “good source” of fiber, or other nutrients it must contain 10-19% of that nutrient per each given serving.  For a food to be “high” in a certain nutrient, it must contain over 20% of that given nutrient.  For example, the DRV (Daily Reference Value) for fiber is 25 grams a day for a 2000 calorie diet.  For a food to be a “good source of fiber” it would need to contain between 2.5 and 4.9 grams of dietary fiber per serving, and to be “high in fiber” it would need to have at least 5 grams of fiber per serving.  Unlike the terms “low calorie” or “low sodium” this label is harder to fudge (no pun intended), since these terms refer to what is added to the food, instead of what is taken away, or what’s gone missing.