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Hyping Health

Guiding Stars

Hannaford Bros. is a supermarket chain based in the U.S. northeast. Its "Guiding Stars" program rates products the chain sells (except for a few categories such as spices and bottled water). The idea is that foods with good nutritional value get a star, ones with better nutritional value get two stars, and the best ones get three. For a full explanation of the program and its criteria, see the Hannaford website.

We asked Hannaford to apply its rating scheme to a collection of products that all carry the Health Check logo. Many of them earned no stars at all. Here's a chart of the results.


Posted on January 23, 2008
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Our family recently began looking at the salt that is in everyday food. Did you know that a bowl of Rice Krispies with 250ml of whole milk has almost 500 mg of sodium? 250 ml of milk contains 125 mg of sodium--even organic milk. I have been a vegetarian for 30 years and cook without salt, but we were stunned to discover that most Classico pasta sauces--which we do use--contain 3000 to 4000 mg of sodium per bottle. Divide that between four people and you've got 1000 mg of sodium per person for the sauce alone at a meal! Unlike most urban families we eat very little processed or restaurant food. Our family began looking into the pervasiveness of salt in food after our son developed hypertension. Salt's everywhere--even in the Healthy Heart logo'd products. We also discovered that some health food salt contain sugar. No wonder heart disease is rampant in North America. Posted by: Roxanne Gregory | Jan 23, 08 10:11 PM
I did not know that the Heart & Stroke Foundation sold their logos to various companies. When I first saw the ads on TV, I thought, great, it's about time - needless to say, this is a real disappointment. I hope the Heart & Stroke Foundation experiences a real backlash on this issue. People trusted them, now we know, they are only in it for the money - definitely, not our health. Posted by: Heidy Schmidt | Jan 24, 08 10:34 PM
I do notice that many low fat and "healthy" foods have a lot of sodium. So now in addition to checking the calories, and the cholesterol, and the fibre, I also check the sodium. I'm surprised by this report. I assumed if it had a check mark that it was good. You learn something new every day. Posted by: Susan Keeping | Jan 27, 08 12:12 PM
I am so disappointed by the heart and stroke foundation. Here all along I thought I was being smart buying items that had the checkmark. Now I have to look even harder at what I am buying. I guess it all comes down to the almighty dollar and to hell with our health. Who can we trust with our families lives? Posted by: Katherine MacDonald | Mar 28, 08 01:17 PM
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