"When the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently asked The Whole Truth to drop the phrase “No Added Sugar” from parts of its packaging, it brought to mind an unlikely cultural reference: Johnny Johnny Yes Papa.

The rhyme begins with a simple question, “Eating sugar?”, followed by an equally confident denial, “No Papa.” Only when the follow-up arrives, “Telling lies?”, does the performance begin to crack.

Much like the world of health food marketing, where products marketed as “clean”, “natural”, or “better-for-you”, often rely on carefully constructed claims that can appear healthier than they really are.

For decades, Indian parents were told a malted drink would make their child grow "taller, stronger and sharper." Another brand claimed its nutritional drink could help children grow twice as fast.

A breakfast cereal campaign suggested that eating low-fat foods in the morning was associated with staying slimmer, without citing supporting evidence.

A cooking oil positioned itself as heart-friendly and capable of reducing cholesterol.

Each of these brands, at various points in time, came under the scanner of the FSSAI for making unsubstantiated health claims.

And yet, for years, these messages shaped how millions of families shopped.

The vocabulary has since evolved, but the underlying dynamic has not.

Today's packaging speaks in cleaner, safer language.

"Multigrain." "No added sugar." "Natural." "Made with millets." "Immunity-boosting." These claims appear in bold on biscuit packs, protein bars, breakfast cereals, and packaged juices, asking consumers to believe they are making a responsible choice.

While The Whole Truth modified and withdrew some of these claims and replaced "No Added Sugar" on certain products with "Sweetened with Dates", the debate over health marketing is no longer limited to legacy packaged-food giants; even brands positioning themselves as cleaner and more transparent alternatives are being tested on where exactly the line lies between consumer-friendly communication and potentially misleading health claims.

The more useful question, however, is what the back label says.

What the front label doesn't tell you Nutritionist Kinita Kadakia Patel, a metabolic and body transformation specialist with over two decades of experience, has watched this pattern become common practice across the packaged food industry.

"Many products, when flipped to read the fine print of the ingredient list or nutrition value table, have a significant amount of added sugars, syrups, refined flours, completely negating the health benefits and making the product unhealthy," she says.

The front label is designed to capture attention and build trust.

“For instance, the front- of a packaged food product may have claims such as “low-fat”, “high-protein”, “multigrain”, “natural”, “no palm oil”, “baked, not fired”, etc… which are designed to immediately capture consumers attention and build trust, leading them to assume the product is healthy and suitable for them,” Patel notes.

What they rarely do is prompt a consumer to turn the pack over.

This gap between the front and the back of a product is not incidental.

It is, in many cases, the point.

A 2024 study titled Fifty Shades of Food Advertising, published by the Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), analysed 50 food and beverage advertisements and found that not a single one disclosed the amounts of sugar, salt, or fat in the product.

Nearly half the ads featured Bollywood and sports celebrities, and emotional appeals around romance, aspiration, and belonging appeared in 22 of the 50 advertisements examined.

The brands that appear in these advertisements are not selling nutrition as much as they are selling reassurance.

Anxieties differ by audience.

For parents with young children, it is height and immunity.

For adults managing weight, it is low-fat or low-calorie.

For those wary of processed food, it is "natural" or "Ayurvedic." Each claim is targeted, and the targeting is deliberate.

Ravi Putrevu, Co-founder and CEO of NatFirst, parent company of TruthIn, a product-rating platform that has analysed over 75,000 currently sold packaged food products in India, identifies a pattern his platform consistently surfaces across categories.

"Brands emphasise one positive aspect, like 'high fibre,' 'made with millets,' or 'no added preservatives,' while the overall product may still be high in added sugar, sodium, or saturated fats," he says.

Putrevu continues that it is not limited to specific categories, but widespread across the packaged food ecosystem.

“However, categories....