Those Taglines

We often see the companies boasting about the content in their products, trying to impress us that they are, the best and safest. Are they!

NO AMMONIA - I always wonder. why most of the hair dye ads come with a tagline... `NO AMMONIA`! It's good to have a hair dye without ammonia. But what about the rest of the ingredients? Most of the hair dyes contain PPD (Phenylenediamine) which is not yet approved to be safe. Though a few studies related the usage of PPD to the occurrence of cancer and asthma, PPD certainly has been considered as an allergen. It was in fact voted as the `Allergen of the Year` (2006) by the American Contact Dermatitis Society. Though many hair dye sachets advice for a patch test, PPD might certainly turn allergen in long run.

NO ADDED MSG - This was the tagline that remained on the top headlines for many days. From News channels to kitchens `MSG` was the keyword for the debates and discussions. MSG is a compound that's found naturally in tomatoes, potatoes etc., But the Chinese were the first to popularise artificial MSG for added flavour in their cuisine. MSG was linked to a varied list of diseases as lengthy as the Chinese cuisne.  And it was forbidden to `add artificial MSG` in the instant food. While MAGGIE claims that it has not added MSG, and NGO's defend it. It's a difficult task to deduce whether MSG is added or was it just a natural occurrence.

NO ADDED SUGAR - You might blame it on genes or on lifestyle, the buzzword is that `diabetics`. so more and more products are aiming to pacify the panic of sugar levels. When you see a can of juice/ jam/ syrup with no added sugar... wait before you grab it and just answer the simple question. Where does the sugar come from? It might be from the sugar cane. But some fruits do contain high levels of sugar. Though the diabetician gives a nod to eat most of the fruits in small quantities, you need not be a mathematician to find out that - it takes lot of fruits to make a bottle of juice. That's too much of sugar without any fibre.So the tagline should really be `NO ADDED FIBRE`.

So! It's good to follow a tagline, but not good enough to ignore the rest of the ingredients. Taglines like `NO TRAS FATS` should not lead us to the decision that the product is safe and healthy.

-nirjara