Natural blunder

I spend a lot of time talking about natural alternatives to drugs, natural foods (like raw milk and grass-fed beef), and the natural order of things. But obviously, just because something's natural doesn't mean it's good for you - or that it's automatically something you want to put into your body...

Case in point: The new, "all-natural" 7Up soft drink.

Yes, you read that right. In an effort to cash in on the trend away from highly processed or artificial foods (63% of today's consumers show a preference for these), in April Cadbury-Schweppes rolled out a new reformulation of the classic 7Up soda-pop. The new version contains only five ingredients - all of them supposedly "natural." These ingredients are:

1) Filtered carbonated water
2) Citric acid
3) Potassium citrate
4) Natural flavors
5) High-fructose corn syrup

Now, if you take the good people at Cadbury Schweppes at their word when they say that the unspecified "natural flavors" do indeed somehow exist unadulterated in Mother Nature, this list sounds fairly close to their claim...

But hold the phone. High-fructose corn syrup may sound like something wholesome you could cook up in Ma Kettle's kitchen with a few ears of maize. But according to a spokesman for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, it's really a highly refined sweetener made from centrifuges, copious amounts of enzymes, and unnatural-sounding things called hydroclones and ion exchange columns.

This doesn't sound at all "natural" to me. And indeed, I've been railing against high-fructose corn syrup (which is nothing more than a euphemism for "sugar") in foods for years. It's a killer - I'd almost rather have synthetic aspartame in my soda (I don't drink soda, but I'm trying to make a point here).

So how does Cadbury-Schweppes get away with calling this high-tech-sugar laced drink "all-natural" in ads that show 7Up cans hanging from tree limbs like fruit and being dug from the ground like carrots and potatoes? Keep reading...

According to Webster's Dictionary, "natural" means: Existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by mankind. By this definition, virtually no refined, preserved, or packaged foods of any type could wear the "natural" label...

However, there's no hard and fast definition of the term "natural" as it applies to the foods industry (or the drug industry, for that matter). The FDA has never established one. This is how a lot of junk foods make it onto store shelves with this misnomer in starbursts on their labels.

Conversely, the USDA has a sensible standard for "natural" - to them, the term means minimally processed, with no synthetic or artificial ingredients. And here's an interesting tidbit: According to a NutraIngredients.com article from May 17, the FDA has been petitioned to adopt this definition of the term officially, yet has never done so.

Hmmm. I wonder why? Could it be lobbying pressure from the junk foods biz? Nah, that would make the FDA corrupt!

Thankfully, someone other than the FDIPA (the Food and Drug Industry Promotion Administration) is watching out for us - and is acting against this fraudulent labeling. The aforementioned Center for Science in the Public Interest (a group I don't always agree with, but heartily support in this matter) is bringing suit against 7Up's makers in federal court for deceptive advertising for this "all natural" campaign...

I'll keep you posted as this story progresses.

Doing what comes "natural" - exposing what's not,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

June 27, 2006   www.realhealthnews.com