Nutritously nutritious?

I believe that most of us are quite fond or our favourite "Vitamin C" drink Ribena. It's the stuff of our innocent childhood (and not so innocent adulthood), where remembering the naked Ribena berry Adam n Eve prancing around in the jungle with leaves covering their privates brings us back to a much simpler and uncomplicated time. Aaah I used to think that Ribena was such a great substitute for eating raw veggies and fruits, convincing myself that if it had 4 times the vitamin C of oranges, it had to be healthy.

Earlier this year, GlaxoSmithKline was fined a total of almost AUD200K for false advertising after two 14 year old students found no detectable traces of vitamin C in Ribena after having conducted a school science experiment. You can read about the article here.

Doesn't it make you wonder how much we believe in corporate advertising and what's written on a label on your favourite food packaging? Seemingly nutritious fodder may be just edible rubbish. Not that it really bothers me, since I eat a whole lot of rubbish anyway, but aren't there watchdogs out there that keep errant food manufacturers in check? Or are these companies just taking advantage of the apparent lack of them? Remember, the Ribena scandal was discovered by 14 year old highschool students......BY CHANCE!

I still love Ribena though. Blackcurrant flavoured sugar water is still a whole lot 'healthier' than a lot of other things we shove down our throats.

......ponder....ponder......