Some of you may heard there is a proposed change to the nutrition facts label. Although I prefer people to look at the ingredients in a food product before the nutrition facts I am a big fan of this. The label has not been changed in 20 years and I think it’s about time to make it more user friendly and have more beneficial information for the consumer. Here is a summary of the proposed changes and my thoughts on it…
1. Serving information is more prominent-this is great because manufacturers often try to trick consumers by putting multiple servings in a product so the consumer looks and thinks they’re eating 150 calories for a small bag of chips when in reality it is 300 calories if both servings are consumed. They are also proposing that serving sizes be changed to a more realistic size so that for example a small bag of chips would be just 1 serving rather than 2. By law, serving sizes must be based on what people actually eat, not on what people “should” be eating.
2. Calories are in large, bold, print.
3. Daily value percentages are placed first- I wish they would get rid of the % all together because it is based on a 2,000 calorie diet which many people do not follow and I find that most of my clients are just confused by them.
4. Added sugars are shown - I think this is awesome, there are natural sugars found in things like dairy and fruit and this would help people that aren’t used to looking for “hidden” sugars (like maple, brown rice syrup, cane juice, honey, agave) in ingredient labels.
5. Calories from fat are removed- consumers should be focusing on the type of fat they are consuming rather than how much of the item is fat (i.e. the monounsaturated fat found naturally in almonds vs the trans fat added to baked goods)
6. Vitamin A and C have been removed and Vitamin D and potassium have been added. This is because research has shown that most Americans get enough vitamins A and C but are lacking in potassium and vitamin D.
If these changes are approved it could take about a year for them to start appearing on products. I fully support these changes, what do you think??
1. Serving information is more prominent-this is great because manufacturers often try to trick consumers by putting multiple servings in a product so the consumer looks and thinks they’re eating 150 calories for a small bag of chips when in reality it is 300 calories if both servings are consumed. They are also proposing that serving sizes be changed to a more realistic size so that for example a small bag of chips would be just 1 serving rather than 2. By law, serving sizes must be based on what people actually eat, not on what people “should” be eating.
2. Calories are in large, bold, print.
3. Daily value percentages are placed first- I wish they would get rid of the % all together because it is based on a 2,000 calorie diet which many people do not follow and I find that most of my clients are just confused by them.
4. Added sugars are shown - I think this is awesome, there are natural sugars found in things like dairy and fruit and this would help people that aren’t used to looking for “hidden” sugars (like maple, brown rice syrup, cane juice, honey, agave) in ingredient labels.
5. Calories from fat are removed- consumers should be focusing on the type of fat they are consuming rather than how much of the item is fat (i.e. the monounsaturated fat found naturally in almonds vs the trans fat added to baked goods)
6. Vitamin A and C have been removed and Vitamin D and potassium have been added. This is because research has shown that most Americans get enough vitamins A and C but are lacking in potassium and vitamin D.
If these changes are approved it could take about a year for them to start appearing on products. I fully support these changes, what do you think??
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