Sometimes my patients get excited when I ask them what they have been eating over the past month or so. They say gleefully, “Dr. Spencer, you would be so proud! Everything I bought was organic!” Then when asked to specify, a bunch of junk food is listed. I then have to be very careful about what I say next as I don’t want to discourage them.
Thanks to marketing, the organic label has created a health halo around junk food. The health halo effect isn’t limited to just my patients, it is a well known effect that causes people to perceive healthfulness just due to a label such as “low-fat” or like in this case “organic.” In fact the research shows that people who are nutritional label savvy tend to underestimate the calories even more when something is labeled “organic.”
The above example of peanut butter cups is one of many that I could make a picture of. Cereal, chips, crackers, candies, etc are all similar. They all have similar calories and no better nutritional value. Don’t be fooled!
p.s. I lof peanut butter cups
