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A front-of-package claim can be accurate about one feature and still leave out the rest of a product’s nutrition profile. A 2026 Nature Food analysis found that claims such as “sugar free,” “low sodium,” and “low saturated fat” did not consistently signal better overall nutrition across newly launched U.S. foods and drinks.
That does not mean the claims were false. It means a statement about one attribute is not the same as an assessment of the whole product.
What the researchers analyzed
The research team compared 145,609 packaged food and beverage products launched in the United States from 2015 through 2024. The product and label data came from Mintel’s Global New Products Database.
To compare overall nutrition, they used the UK Food Standards Agency’s nutrient profiling model. It scores nutrients to limit—energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium—alongside nutrients and ingredients the model rewards, including fibre, protein, and fruit, vegetables, and nuts. This is a research scoring method, not an FDA verdict on whether a particular claim is allowed. The FDA’s separate voluntary “healthy” claim has its own criteria for food groups and limits for added sugars, sodium, and saturated fat.
What the study found
Across the market, products carrying claims often had more favorable nutrient-profile scores than products without claims. But the pattern changed by claim and product category.
Most food claims were associated with more favorable overall scores, with an exception for “low/no/reduced trans fat” claims. In beverages, four claim groups—low/no/reduced calorie, “sugar free,” low/no/reduced sodium, and low/no/reduced saturated fat—were associated with less favorable overall scores than products without those claims.
Two examples show what that can look like in the data:
- Low-sodium drinks: In carbonated soft drinks, fruit or flavoured still drinks, and ready-to-drink coffee and tea, products with low/no/reduced sodium claims had higher sugar levels contributing to their less favorable overall scores.
- Reduced-trans-fat foods: In meals and side dishes, products with low/no/reduced trans fat claims had higher sodium and saturated fat contributing to their less favorable scores. In dairy and egg products, the pattern also included higher saturated fat and energy and lower protein.
These are comparisons across products in the dataset, not named brands or proof that changing one ingredient caused another to increase. The authors describe such patterns as possible formulation trade-offs. The paper’s title captures their conclusion: on-package claims are “imperfect signals of overall nutritional quality.” A product can improve on the named attribute while remaining less favorable on the overall profile.
The researchers also found that roughly two-thirds of all products in the sample crossed the model’s “less healthy” threshold. Even a claim associated with a better score did not necessarily move a product below that threshold.
The mismatch was not limited to nutrient claims. Some “natural” claims—such as “no additives or preservatives”—were associated with less favorable overall scores within several food and drink categories. That comparison does not show that the claim was false; it shows that the claim alone did not describe the product’s full nutrient profile.
That threshold comes from the UK model used in the paper. It is not the FDA’s formal “healthy” claim definition, and it does not mean that every product in that group has the same nutritional profile. The analysis compared product labels and nutrient data; it did not test health outcomes or whether shoppers changed what they bought. The sample covered newly launched products, so it may not represent every product on U.S. shelves.
What supplement shoppers can take from it
The study analyzed packaged foods and drinks, not dietary supplements. It cannot tell us whether supplement claims reliably reflect a supplement’s quality or effectiveness.
The practical label-reading question is still useful: what exactly does the front claim describe, and where can you verify the details? For a supplement, check the ingredient, form, amount per serving, and serving size in the Supplement Facts panel. See our article on reading vitamin and supplement labels and supplement label red flags for a step-by-step checklist.
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