"Natural Flavors" Doesn't Mean What You Think
It's one of the least natural-sounding phrases on the label.
"Natural flavors" sounds like the reassuring part of an ingredient list. It's actually one of the vaguest.
A category, not an ingredient
"Natural flavor" only means the flavoring started from a natural source — a plant or animal — before being processed in a lab. A single "natural flavor" can be a blend of dozens of compounds, plus solvents and preservatives that never appear on the label.
Natural doesn't mean simple
The flavor in your "natural" strawberry drink may contain no strawberry at all — just a lab-built blend that reads as strawberry to your tongue. It's legal, common, and completely opaque.
The move
"Natural flavors" isn't a red flag on its own — but it isn't the green flag it sounds like, either. If a product leans hard on flavor claims, the shorter and more specific the ingredient list, the better.
Ask kiiwii
- Are natural flavors bad for you?
- How are they different from artificial?
- Why aren't they listed individually?
See how kiiwii scores products like this.
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