THESE days we're much more health conscious about the food we buy and many consumers actively look for the low-fat labels.

But in reality not many of us question how healthy these foods are. Does a low- fat biscuit have more fat than a 90 per cent fat-free one?

When shopping for food, we're confronted with a variety of nutrition claims, often related to how much fat foods contain.

It seems that many people are being fooled by food labels, and choosing higher-fat foods when they actually think they're going for the healthy option.

Shoppers seem confused, and understandably so, by labels which claim the food is either low fat, reduced fat and 90 per cent fat-free.

Not many people can tell which is the most healthy option.

Consumer magazine Which? says it's the ignorance of fat labelling that manufacturers are preying on when they make fat-free claims.

And, although the fat-free claims are technically true, they can be misleading. For example, an 85 per cent fat-free food has 15 per cent fat (15g of fat per 100g).

Not only does it sound worse this way round, but for many types of food, 15 per cent is actually quite a lot of fat.

Which? says that one of the most prominent users of fat-free labelling is the Go Ahead range, made by McVities.

Its cakes, crisps and biscuits are between 80 per cent and 97 per cent fat-free. McVities says that its Go Ahead chocolate dream cake bar is 85 per cent fat free. But its 15g of fat per 100g is more than a Mr Kipling French Fancy cake - which makes no claims about being healthy.

According to Which? the McVities cake bars contain even more fat than a cheesecake - something which many of us would class as unhealthy or even fatty.

Generally if a meal or snack has 20g of fat per 100g, it's considered high in fat. So a product labelled 80 per cent fat free - such as Go Ahead crisps - is a high-fat food.

McVities told Which? that it doesn't think its labels are confusing, and has no intention of changing them.

But it's not just big manufacturers who are making these sort of claims - supermarkets are also joining in.

Sainsbury's sells products which are labelled as being between 90 per cent and 99 per cent fat free - mainly in its Be Good to Yourself range. Apparently it has no plans to change its labelling.

Safeway and Waitrose said they didn't sell own-brand products in this way.

Asda told Which? that a very small number of its products were labelled like this, and these could be phased out over the next 12 months.

Tesco has used fat-free labelling claims, but is currently withdrawing them because of Government guidelines.

A committee of food experts working with the Government recently said that qualified fat-free claims such as 85 per cent fat-free should be strongly discouraged to avoid misleading consumers.

Last summer, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food recommended that manufactures should stop making such claims.

Dr Jacquie Lavin, a Slimming World nutritionist, said the best advice she can give to consumers is to "be careful" when choosing fat-free foods.

"Some people think if a food is 95 per cent fat free it's okay to eat two, but that's not the case," she said.

"On the other hand, many reduced-fat items are very good. Take milk, for example. A few years ago people used to cut dairy products out of their diets completely. But calcium and protein is very important.

"At least today you can buy skimmed milk."

She said that a lot of the snack bars which claim to be 95 per cent fat free can be misleading. Even though they may have a relatively low fat content compared to other bars, they are high in calories.

"Very often they just up the sugar content," she said. "These reduced fat products are good if you need a particular item because they offer a healthier alternative."

Dr Lavin is warning people not to be lulled into a false sense of security just because a label says the food has a reduced fat content.

"It is important to look at foods with a relatively low fat and calorie content if you're dieting," she added.