organic Oreo skeptisismOrganic Oreos? Don’t bite the hype.EricSkiff via Creative Commons

Atkins. South Beach. Master Cleanse.

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Each of these diets is supposed to help you lose weight (and feel great!). “Organic,” on the other hand, does not belong in quite the same category. According to a new study, however, there appears to be an organic-cookie-eating portion of the U.S. confusing “organic” with “low calorie.”

In a recently presented study by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, organic snackers reportedly perceived foods with “organic” labels to contain 40% fewer calories. Cornell professor and a co-author of the study, Brian Wansink, postulated, “An organic label gives a food a ‘health halo.'” Sorry, folks, organic food can still make you fat.

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What the study really tells us is that — besides supermarket-wide organic ignorance — there are people eating junk food who think “organic” is some kind of new “Sweet ‘n’ Low” — all the yummy goodness but only half the guilt. Pass the organic Oreos, please!

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