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PORTSIDE CULTURE

AT THE GROCERY STORE, BLINDED BY THE LIGHT OF THE ‘HEALTH HALO’
 
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Dani Blum
October 20, 2024
New York Times
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_ Health halo refers to the perception that a food product is
generally good for us based on a single claim, casting subliminal
power over our diets and dollars. _

“Health halo” borrows from “halo effect,” a cognitive bias
where people perceive someone or something in an overall positive way
based on a single trait., Cristina Spanò

 

In the airport terminal, two different grab-and-go snacks may appeal
to travelers rushing to catch their flights: One is a candy bar,
wrapped in chocolate and caramel. The other is also a bar wrapped in
chocolate and caramel, but it’s “high in protein.”

If that promise of protein has ever influenced your purchase, the
“health halo” may have been at work. The term refers to a
phenomenon where people may perceive a food product (or drink or
supplement) as healthy based on a single claim — even if the snack
is not-so-angelic.

“Health halo” borrows from “halo effect,” a cognitive bias
where people perceive someone or something in an overall positive way
based on a single trait. (A well-used example: assuming a physically
attractive person is also kind.)

A single claim (think “low calorie” or “organic”) emblazoned
on a package, or a nutritious-sounding ingredient in large font, can
do the heavy lifting for a food brand. The claim may be true, but that
doesn’t mean the product is healthy: The sugar content of a protein
bar, for example, may rival that of a candy bar.
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the halo has cast a good-for-you glow over the North American protein
bar market, which, according to one estimate, could grow to over $11
billion
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2030.

The Food and Drug Administration has some regulations
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food labeling. The agency will review an assertion that, say, a bar of
dark chocolate could lower blood pressure. But food manufacturers can
persuade shoppers with nods and winks.

They’ve been winking for a while, because research suggests
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works. For example, one study
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2016 found that people were more likely to think bags of chips were
healthier, and buy them, when they were “vitamin-fortified” —
even when they were worse dietary decisions.

“If the marketing is well done, it slips below the radar of critical
thinking,” said Marion Nestle, an emeritus professor of nutrition
and food studies at New York University. “If you’re in a
supermarket and it’s got vitamins, it’s no G.M.O., it’s organic,
no artificial sweetener, no sugar added — all of those have the same
kind of effect: unconscious, subliminal, emotional.”

But some consumers are challenging claims: Last year, three plaintiffs
filed a class action complaint against PepsiCo, arguing that it had
created a “deceptive health halo”
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its Gatorade protein bars, including by marketing the bars as
science-backed tools to “help muscles rebuild.” A federal judge
ruled
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August that the lawsuit against PepsiCo could proceed.

So many decisions around what to eat come down to impulse buys — and
those choices are often made in the haze of the health halo.

Dani Blum is a reporter on the Well desk who covers personal health,
wellness trends and Ozempic.

 

DANI BLUM [[link removed]] is a health reporter
for The Times. More about Dani Blum
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* food marketing
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* health halo
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* health claims
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* healthy foods
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