What does "Fat Free" really mean?

Source: Barlow Medical Group

The economic principle I am exploring is, what does the "Fat Free" label really mean"

My research question to help me study the economic principle is "what replaces fat in a "fat free" product"?

The article Low-Fat Diet: Why Fat-Free Isn't Trouble-Free published in WebMD demonstrates this economic principle by showing us "fat free" isn't always the best option to go to for a diet. It either means it was loaded up on sugar, doesn't actually mean there is no fat in it and forces you to eat more.

First, when companies take out the fats in a food it looses a lot of flavor. The article shows us that when something is "fat-free" is is also "taste-free".  According to this article, when companies do this they need to replace the fat with something else in order to bring the taste back, which usually tends to be sugar.  I think this if someone who was going on a diet chooses a "fat-free" product in hopes of losing weight they would have the opposite affects due to the excess amount of sugar in product now.

Second, the label "fat-free" can be deceiving. Just because it says free doesn't mean there is no fat in it."Fat-Free" means the food must have less than .5 grams of fat per serving, "Low-Fat" foods must have 3 grams or less of fat per serving, "Reduced-Fat" means the food must have 25% less fat than the original version, and "Light" foods must have 50% less fats or 1/3 the calories. So using "Fat-Free" foods thinking there is no fat in them just means there is less fats and more sugar.

Third, when you take out the fat of a product it becomes less substantial so you eat more to feel satisfied. When you eat more of a fat reduced product you are consuming a lot more sugar and being counter productive.  I think the best way to avoid so much sugar and eating a diet with less fats is to stick with foods that have healthy fats, for example avocados, eggs and nuts.

In my next blog post I will research the question is what does sugar free really mean?