What is "All Natural" :

When you hear the words “All Natural” you think in your mind; no preservatives, no fillers, all ingredients straight from Mother Nature, but is that what companies mean when they print “All Natural” on their products?  Is there a difference between “all natural” and " organic"?  The answers to these questions might make you think twice when purchasing products the next time you are in the grocery store.

Wikipedia states that “‘Natural foods’ and ‘all natural foods’ are widely used terms in food labeling and marketing with a variety of definitions, some of which are vague. The terms are often misused on labels and in advertisements.” “Natural” is also used to contrast the product to look or feel “organic”, but organic is a legal term used for certified products only that do not have fillers, never used pesticides while growing the product, no preservatives added, etc.

Last year the FDA received two petitions requesting it to clearly define the term “Natural”, in order to avoid such problems.  Although FDA has not formally responded to the petitions, FoodNavigator-USA.com has learned that the agency will not be considering the issue in the near future because “we’re not sure how high of an issue it is for consumers”.

So if this isn’t a big deal that consumers don’t know exactly what they are putting in their bodies, should we call everything NATURAL?  The FDA doesn’t think that defining “All Natural” an “issue”, should we just start trusting marketers that put “All Natural” on their products even if not a hint of the product came from anything natural?

The best thing to do is just look for organic products.  As mentioned before, products listed as organic have to be tested and receive certification stating that they can advertise as “Organic”.  The next best thing is to learn how to read Nutritional Labels.  Labels are helpful and every product sold must provide ingredients and other information that can help you choose the best product for you.

Just be smart and do your research.  Don’t believe everything you read on the front of the packaged products.

( article courtesy of  VitaDude )


Warm regards and love -

Erin