Could 'natural' be the way forward for healthy foods?

Whereas two or three years ago most consumers would have said low-fat was the key requirement for healthy foods, the latest research shows that people see clean label as the new healthy.

On the back of this trend some brands traditionally regarded as treats or indulgences are marketing themselves as healthy because of their clean label status - but is this misleading to consumers, given that they often contain high levels of ingredients such as sugar and saturated fat?

Natural ingredients are not necessarily good for health, particularly in large quantities - take salt for example. Similarly, man-made ingredients are not actually bad for health in the strictest sense, since they are all clearly approved for human consumption.

But the problem with some artificial ingredients currently used (eg trans fats and high fructose corn syrup) is that reducing manufacturers' costs was one of their key objectives, along with providing sensory stimuli such as visual appeal and taste, rather than enhancing consumer health. Indeed evidence is gradually emerging that some of these artificial ingredients may actually be detrimental to human health.

The consumer currently perceives the terms 'natural' and 'healthy' to be interchangeable, so who can blame manufacturers for taking advantage of the opportunities which this perception creates.

However, the key underlying health trend is perhaps not actually towards the natural, so much as towards understanding what is in our food and why it is there. On this basis the concept of 'kitchen cupboard' ingredients pioneered by Tesco in their ready meals range is but one stage in this trend. A new wave of artificial ingredients with health and nutrition as its core objective will increasingly be incorporated into food products with a view to providing enhanced health benefits. Functional foods currently on the market are the tip of this iceberg.

In the future we are likely to see more foods based on novel, and perhaps not always natural, ingredients to enhance the nutrient profile of foods using technology. For example, improved fatty acid profiles through cultured meat or, dare I say it, genetically modified crops with enhanced nutrient levels. We allow technology to pervade other parts of our life, which may affect our health (mobile phones being the classic example) so why not food?

Stephanie French​ is a freelance nutrition strategy consultant at Nutrition Direction​