The product box shows a frothy pitcher of milk and says “filling made with real milk,” but read the ingredients and you’ll discover it has several types of sugar, corn syrup and salt. More than 30 ingredients are listed before nonfat milk appears on the list.

“Oh, these are really like desserts, not a healthy breakfast food,” said Dr. Leslie Hayden-Malloy, a Petaluma-based nutritionist and professor of nutrition science at San Francisco State University and Santa Rosa Junior College.

Hayden-Malloy spent a couple of hours recently in an area supermarket examining major food manufacturers’ claims on labels. These marketing strategies are intended to convince consumers that by eating these products they will reduce heart disease, improve memory and make you slimmer.

Although Hayden-Malloy is knowledgeable about healthful foods and recommends them to her private clients, she was shocked as she scrutinized product ingredient listings by obvious discrepancies between manufacturers’ claims and actual ingredients.

She found a serving of kid-friendly Lucky Charms cereal in the red leprechaun-festooned box contained much less sugar per serving than Kellogg’s Smart Start cereal. It was surprising because Smart Start is packaged in a low-key white box with a photo of a heart-shaped cereal bowl and marketed to health-conscious adults. Lucky Charms has nearly three teaspoons of sugar per serving and Smart Start has almost four teaspoons per serving.

“That’s a lot for something that markets itself in the shape of a heart. It looks like it would be really healthy,” she said.

In supermarket aisle after aisle, Hayden-Malloy found products making nutrition claims that didn’t hold up.

Her chief advice to consumers who want to eat healthy is to get in the habit of reading product ingredients before placing them in their shopping carts.

For those who don’t want to take the time to read all the information, she simplifies it further by saying that in most products, especially processed foods, generally the fewer ingredients they contain, the better they are for your health.

Kathy Nichols, a Healdsburg life coach and registered dietitian, writes a monthly newsletter for clients to help them make good food choices.

She suggests that people avoid foods with nutrients added and opt instead for supplements so they will know exactly what they’re getting. Vitamin Water is an example of a product that contains certain vitamins but may be misleading for people who think they’re getting lots of extra nutrition.

“It’s questionable how healthy the extra is,” said Nichols.

When it comes to label claims, she says, “You can’t take them at face value. They’re meant to sell a product, not meant to educate you. You’ve got to read the label, and ultimately you’ve got to look at the list of ingredients.”

“It’s sort of like our own health interests can trap us. People want to make good choices,” said Nichols.

There were supermarket products, such as Tropicana’s orange juice with 50% less sugar, that really do give consumers a healthier option.

“This has 11 grams of sugar. Not bad. That equals two teaspoons (per serving), not too bad,” said Hayden-Malloy.

But beware of any so-called juice whose label says “flavored juice beverage blend,” because it probably contains a miniscule amount of real juice.

While Welch’s markets one of its grape juices as “Healthy Start 2X Vitamin C + Antioxidant Power of 100% Grape Juice” as a nutritious beverage, Hayden-Malloy says it’s “super high in sugar.”

“Juice is mostly high-fructose corn syrup,” she said, noting that you’re always better off with the actual fruit than juice.

The margarine section can be baffling to shoppers because of vast product choices and claims. Some margarines contains Omega 3 fats, which are good for you, but you’re better off getting it naturally from fish instead of margarine, says Hayden-Malloy. Many margarines contain partially hydrogenated oils, although there’s “no safe level for partially hydrogenated,” she says. “Watch out.”

One product, butter-flavored Melt, claims on its label to boost metabolism and promote healthy weight. It contains coconut, soybean, palm and flax oils, cream, butter flavor and added vitamin E.

“There’s nothing in here that would do that any more than any other margarine,” said Hayden-Malloy. “It’s got 80 calories per tablespoon and is relatively calorie-dense. You could eat three heads of broccoli for 80 calories.”

For a nutritionist, the soup aisle presents a multitude of bad choices because most soups are extremely high in sodium. Ideally, daily consumption of sodium should be under 2,400 milligrams.

Hayden-Malloy did a revealing comparison of Campbell’s Heart Healthy Cream of Mushroom soup and its regular Cream of Mushroom soup and found both contained far too much sodium. The heart healthy soup had 410 versus 870 milligrams for the regular, with 70 versus 100 calories. Campbell’s “25% less sodium Cream of Mushroom” had 650 milligrams.

“The sodium is lower but not low enough,” she said.

The regular soup cost $1 per can and the other two Campbell’s were $1.69 each.

“That’s a lot more money for very little benefit,” said Hayden-Malloy.

She also looked at a Progresso brand soup that calls itself “light.” The vegetable and noodle soup had fewer calories than the regular Progresso but contained ingredients, such as maltodextrin, which were not nutritious.

“Yuck, fillers. I look at this stuff and think what a really horrible food it is,” she said.

Bread is another food that confounds shoppers. Many people know they’re better off eating whole wheat bread, but unless they closely read ingredient lists it’s hard to figure out which bread to buy. The label should state “whole” grain, and if the word “whole” is omitted, then it is a refined product, said Hayden-Malloy.

Orowheat’s “Healthfull 10-grain bread” has “protein and fiber to help satisfy your hunger,” but Hayden-Malloy scrutinized its contents and surmised it wasn’t much different than other breads.

She also looked at Wonder Bread brand’s offerings, including its Smart White bread, which compared to its regular white bread had more fiber and a little more protein — but also more sodium. Another Wonder bread is marketed as “whole grain white.” There is no such thing.

“What is whole grain white? Shame on Wonder,” she said.

Janet Parmer is a Bay Area feature writer. She may be reached at jhparmer@comcast.net.