Do you look at the ingredients of products you buy and does it influence your shopping decisions?

sarahTT

Once again, a product I'm buying for years now (Lidl Corn Flakes) has changed the ingredients, in this case sugar from 1.4g to 5.5g/100g. If I want more sugar I can add it myself. Same thing for salt in many products. So this change will mean that I'll try to find a less "sugary" alternative and switch. Could you do the same or is it just I don't care?

badmemory

Yes, I do look and it sometimes influences my shopping.

What have they taken out so that they need to add extra sugar.  That is usually the reason for the addition of both salt and sugar.

basketcase

Yes, I do look and it often influences my shopping.

I always look and it always influences my decisions.  It has to.

DS is Type 1 diabetic and DD is gluten intolerant.  I myself am wheat sensitive, but can just about get away with it.  DD can't.  She recently bought some chocolate raisins (or almonds - I forget which!) and was ill for a few days, having been what we call 'glutened'.

The shop has started using wheat.  What the heck for??!  So, for anyone who has a dietary problem/preference, read the label every time.  Even if you think you know...

prowla

Yes, I do look and it often influences my shopping.

I don't like the taste of artificial/replacement sweeteners, so I always check the ingredients of drinks especially.

As it stands, all but Coke of the mainstream fizzy drinks and pretty much every carton "drink" are a no.

donnac2558

Yes, I do look and it sometimes influences my shopping.

I only look if it has chicken to make sure it is breast meat.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Yes, I do look and it often influences my shopping.

Yeap, Twiglets now have palm oil in them so won't be buying those any more, I only buy chocolate that doesn't have palm oil in it as well.

I also don't want to eat anything with sweetener in it, I'd rather have the sugar and just eat less. Sweetener is excessively sweet, whilst it may not make you fat, your brain still has a similar stimulation resulting in it becoming accustomed to a heightened level of sweetness.

Aim is to eventually stop eating anything with oil in it but that pretty much means not eating anything processed, which won't be a bad thing.

soolin

Yes, I do look and it often influences my shopping.

basketcase said:

I always look and it always influences my decisions.  It has to.

DS is Type 1 diabetic and DD is gluten intolerant.  I myself am wheat sensitive, but can just about get away with it.  DD can't.  She recently bought some chocolate raisins (or almonds - I forget which!) and was ill for a few days, having been what we call 'glutened'.

The shop has started using wheat.  What the heck for??!  So, for anyone who has a dietary problem/preference, read the label every time.  Even if you think you know...

I’m a coeliac and like you I have to read labels, the results of not doing so is extremely unpleasant. 

I would have liked another category for voting that said ‘I always read labels and it always influences my decisions’.

badmemory

Yes, I do look and it sometimes influences my shopping.

Perhaps a section for I have to look at the labels for health reasons.  And another one for I have to take a magnifying glass with me so that I can read the IMPORTANT bits of the labels.  I no longer buy very much that needs this sort of label thankfully.  I first started looking for saturated fat as DS takes after his father so his tends to be high so a permanent work in progress.  It was whilst doing that that I did a second look at some labels & decided well that has to go too.

sarahTT

badmemory said:

And another one for I have to take a magnifying glass with me so that I can read the IMPORTANT bits of the labels.

Yep, that's another of my pet peeves. On small packs this is understandable but on big packs it's just annoying. I have a totally and utterly unscientific feeling that the more a product is geared towards the elderly the smaller the print is (probably just shows that I am getting older and may need glasses ).

Interesting that many people seem to check these things. And given that so far just one person voted "Nope, couldn't care less." I assume there must more who think so but who couldn't care less

soolin

Yes, I do look and it often influences my shopping.

Instead of a magnifying glass I use the camera function on my phone and expand the image, not ideal but some of the small print is every small, and often the colour on colour makes it worse. 

badmemory

Yes, I do look and it sometimes influences my shopping.

colour definitely makes it worse & I haven't got one of those phones.  Seems pointless as have very little or no signal at home & only use it in emergencies when I go out.  I am getting truly fed up of all the duff calls flattening my battery.