Do you want healthier food? Start demanding it

Can Big Food turn over a new, healthier leaf? Perhaps — if the marketplace demands it. The real power to eat healthily lies in the hands of consumers, but some help from retailers can go a long way.

Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Subway recently announced they would cut back on the use of artificial flavors, colors and other ingredients “where possible.” No more Yellow No. 6 or Blue No. 1 dye for the taco cheese and avocado ranch dressing. Taco Bell will even use actual black pepper to season its beef. (Does anyone even want to know what they were using before?)

These aren’t isolated incidents. Chipotle Mexican Grill is dumping genetically modified ingredients from its menu, and both McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A plan to stop selling chicken that’s been treated with human antibiotics.

There’s a new category of chain restaurants called “healthy fast casual,” and its market share appears to be growing.

It isn’t just restaurants. Wal-Mart has issued new guidelines to suppliers of beef, poultry and eggs that call for reduced use of antibiotics and better treatment of animals — guidelines that may have encouraged Tyson Foods’ recent announcement that it will stop using human antibiotics in its domestic broiler chicken flocks within a couple of years.

Some critics argue that moves such as these are more about making restaurants and retailers appear like healthy alternatives than actually making the food their customers eat healthier.

For example, scientists say there’s no evidence that GMO foods or artificial flavors are dangerous. The high-calorie concoctions peddled at these restaurants most certainly contribute to the obesity epidemic in the United States — and Taco Bell’s avocado ranch dressing won’t contain any less fat or calories when the Blue Dye No. 1 is taken out.

So, what are consumers to do if they really want healthier food when they eat out? As always, the answer is to separate the facts from the marketing hype. Informed consumers are some of the most powerful market forces of all.

If you want to avoid artificial flavors and other ingredients, reward Taco Bell and Pizza Hut with your business. If you don’t like the idea of GMO foods, feel free to eat at Chipotle, and maybe take a little time to understand why many scientists think there’s nothing to really worry about.

Certainly, reducing the number of chickens treated with human antibiotics is a good thing. Overuse of antibiotics leads to the development of resistant superbugs that grow ever harder for doctors to treat.

If your concern is your growing waistline or clogging arteries, then you can’t fall for vague assurances that fast-food companies care about your health. You need to check calorie counts (required on menus now, thanks to the Affordable Care Act) and fat grams. You need to educate yourself about how those calorie counts can be fudged.

Fast-food chains and grocery stores want your business, and they’ve noticed the growing demand for healthy food. But they’ll only change their offerings as much as the market demands.

This story was originally published June 7, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Do you want healthier food? Start demanding it."