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It’s easy to get sucked into buying a product based on what its label says — after all, that’s what the label’s designed to do. And some of those label claims are regulated by the U.S. or monitored by the industry, and they actually mean something.

Others, though, have almost no meaning — they’re simply a marketplace come-on, and empty claims like “Made with Natural Goodness,” “Kid Approved” and “Doctor Recommended” have become as common as those with legal definitions. Today, even regulated terms like “Healthy” and “Contains Antioxidants” have become muddied.

Consumers are exposed to numerous misleading labels every day, says Bruce Silverglade, director of legal affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, whose recent report on labeling demonstrates the need for changes in U.S. food labeling policies. Some rules are quite odd, like the fact that two agencies regulate what’s in soup or pizza, depending on whether they contain meat.

One labeling trend Silverglade hates is the claim that a product can strengthen your immune system. “All of these claims imply that eating the product will help ward off diseases — and all of them are false,” he says. “Eating vegetables and drinking cranberry juice are healthy, but they are no more likely to ward off disease than any other healthy food.”