Artificial flavours are man made synthetics and used to simulate tastes. People generally believe that they are bad for you. Natural flavours are ones from mother nature (plants etc.) such as real life strawberries and peaches. Hippies often buy products that only contain natural flavours. Hope this helps.

Natural flavors are just that- things found in nature that can be used to enhance the flavor of food and beverage items. Artificial flavors are synthesized, lab-created flavors that often mimic these natural flavors. Artificial flavors are cheaper for food companies to acquire, so they are often used in favor of natural flavors. When a label says that both artificial and natural flavors are used, they have used one or more of both, often to keep costs low while still being able to say that natural flavors are used. 

If they can't tell you what they "Natural flavors" are, chances are they aren't natural. (I know this from experience, my dad worked with a food processing company).

If it's labled "Natural flavor", for the most part, that flavor is in a container marked "Natural Flavor: Vanilla", "Natural Flavor: Blueberries", "Natural Flavor:"...etc. "Natural Flavor" means that "this is the flavor it would naturally have, it actually has nothing to do with the flavor itself coming from nature.

When it's labed "Artificial Flavor", that flavoring is often a "Complimentary Flavor"...it enhances the flavor of the product. It can also be a man-made flavor that mimics something that would be too expensive to pour into every food item. Foreign imports are often too expensive to actually put into food and still keep the cost down. So, they make a flavor similar to it, basically putting "Artificial Flavor" in the same category as "Natural Flavor".

Getting the best flavor in your food would require paying more, so if you want to eat a healthy meal with the real ingredients in it, look at the label. Make sure it doesnt' say "Flavor" anywhere.

I've seen cans of spaghetti sauce that said "Water, Sodium, Basil Essence, Garlic Essence, Dehydrated Mushrooms, Dehydrated Tomatoes, Tomato Essence, and Natural Flavors". What they should say is "Tomato Paste, Sea Salt, Crushed Garlic, Chopped Mushrooms, Halved Tomatoes, and Basil".

If a can or package is marked "sodium" that is a liquid product injected into the food, and not actuall salt. It's even injected into the whole turkeys, chickens, etc. that you'll find for Thanksgiving. If you don't want you food to have sodium in it (sodium causes heat-attacks, high-blood-pressure, blood clots, seizures, panic attacks, and water retention), try bying organic food, or buying what you can from Flea Markets or farms.

Food at the Flea Markets is fresh and usually very inexpensive, however you may need to wash it before eating it.

Food from the farm will be more expensive, but at least you can know what is in your food, and know that you're eating a healthy meal.

 

Hope this helps!