Martini Daniela, Del Bo' Cristian, Serafini Mauro, Porrini Marisa, Pellegrini Nicoletta, Angelino Donato
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy.
Faculty of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo, 64100 Teramo, Italy.
Foods. 2021 Sep 19;10(9):2225. doi: 10.3390/foods10092225.
Nutrition claims (NCs) on food packaging are, from one side, an informative tool about the nutritional characteristics of the product. From another side, they could bias the consumer in perceiving such products as healthier than those without claims. In order to investigate whether products with NCs have a better nutritional composition that those without claims, the present study aimed to compare the nutrition facts of 376 breakfast cereals, with and without fibre-related NCs, available in 13 Italian retailer online stores. Among these products, 73 items claimed to be a "source of fibre" and 109 "high in fibre". In addition to a higher fibre content, products "high in fibre" showed higher protein and fat contents but lower carbohydrate, sugar and salt contents compared to both "source of fibre" and without fibre-related NC items. Overall, a high variability in nutritional values was also observed within products with the same type of fibre-related NC. In conclusion, the results suggested that fibre-related NCs should not be considered as a marker of a better nutritional composition of breakfast cereals, and thus consumers should be educated to carefully read the entire nutritional information reported in the food labelling.
食品包装上的营养声称，一方面是关于产品营养特性的信息工具。另一方面，它们可能会使消费者认为此类产品比没有营养声称的产品更健康。为了调查带有营养声称的产品是否比没有营养声称的产品具有更好的营养成分，本研究旨在比较意大利13家零售商在线商店中376种早餐谷物的营养成分，这些谷物有的带有与纤维相关的营养声称，有的则没有。在这些产品中，73种声称是“纤维来源”，109种“富含纤维”。与“纤维来源”产品和没有与纤维相关营养声称的产品相比，“富含纤维”的产品除了纤维含量更高外，蛋白质和脂肪含量也更高，但碳水化合物、糖和盐含量更低。总体而言，在具有相同类型与纤维相关营养声称的产品中，也观察到营养价值存在很大差异。总之，结果表明与纤维相关的营养声称不应被视为早餐谷物营养成分更好的标志，因此应该教育消费者仔细阅读食品标签中报告的全部营养信息。
