my dad, who is quite overweight, would order the sweet potato french fries at Culver's, after I told him to eat healthier. My mom even supported him - "those are SWEET POTATO fries! that's healthy!". I told them that's not how it works, and it just made them angry.

It doesn't help that government recommendations have been based on either terrible research or straight up from lobbying groups for so many decades.

The old food pyramid was insane. Nuts, beans, and red meat all being lumped in the protein category, while all fats and sweets were considered the same. Sugar was just considered a carbohydrate, whether it came from fruits or from soda (high fructose corn syrup). The categories were displayed and expressed as hard lines and there was no nuance at all. Not to mention bread, cereal, rice, pasta all being the largest category... and an entire category for just milk-based items.

For many people the government recommendation is just taken at face value, often just because that is what they're taught in school.

Unfortunately there’s a larger than you expect percentage of people out there who just think “fruit healthy” and that’s where the thought ends

Totally fair point. As usual I tend to overestimate the general public.

I think children are generally taught "eat your fruits and vegetables". It should not be permitted to target children with fruit-branded junk food and mis-marketing

One of my friends was staying with me for a few days. She bought 2 half gallons of apple juice (buy one, get one) and she was saying how much she loved it, how healthy it was, and she switched over from soda a while ago. I commented that it's not really healthy per se because it still contains nearly as much sugar as soda, she didn't disagree but still said that drinking apple juice just seems healthier since it's from a fruit.

Yes you’d think that wouldn’t include researchers who do research and publish in pediatric journals though.