The Bold New Look of Food Labels
The mandate for revised Nutrition Facts labels occurred a few years ago, but 2020 became the year that all packaged foods were required to have the new labels. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised the labels in 2016 to reflect updated scientific findings and to help consumers (hopefully) make better-informed choices. These are the key areas to note.
Calories Per Serving and Per Container
Because it’s really easy to overconsume some packaged foods, nutrition experts often advise not to eat from the food’s container. For example, it’s better to dish out a portion of ice cream because it’s easy to gobble up an entire pint in one sitting. Eat the whole pint and you are consuming from 640 to 920 calories because that pint usually contains four servings, with 160 to 230 or more calories per serving. With the calories per serving and per container clearly stated, it’s now easy to see the caloric reality and to therefore more carefully consider your options.
Pay Attention to Added Sugar
In the 80s and 90s, fats were demonized for allegedly making people fat. According to registered dietitian Dana Hunnes, PhD, MPH, UCLA Medical Center and assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, the obesity epidemic began its surge upwards during that “fat is bad” era of food, where fats were replaced with other ingredients, including sugar, salt, and faux-fats. “Since this period, weight problems have boomed in the United States and other Westernized countries, with two out of every three people being overweight or obese,” she says.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), American adults, on average, consume about 77 grams (almost 20 teaspoons) of added sugar per day. Scores of studies have pinpointed the trouble with eating too much added sugar—leading to its line-item listing on the new label. Studies that have shown that too much added sugar can cause chronic inflammation, result in excessive weight gain, and is linked to frailty in older adults.
Though there is some natural sugar in whole fruit and even some vegetables, the body digests them differently compared to added sugar. That’s because whole fruits and veggies also contain fiber, which slows down the digestive process. Added sugar is absorbed much faster and can lead to sugar spikes and increased hunger.
“Seeing a food label with 15 grams of added sugars is a great teaching tool and a resource to allow consumers to know the amount of added sugar in that food item,” emphasizes Hunnes.
On a daily basis, the AHA advises that men consume no more than 150 calories from added sugar (about 9 teaspoons or 37.5 grams). Women should consume no more than 100 calories from added sugar (about 6 teaspoons or 25 grams). It adds up quickly. Going back to the ice cream example, a small serving can have from 12 to 25 grams of added sugar.
So, while its usually OK to indulge in dessert every once in a while, by paying attention to the nutritional call-outs, you can make more informed choices about what you put in your body and how often.
Ingredients and Micronutrients
The updated labels also now have the absolute value of micronutrients in the food product, such as iron, calcium, phosphorus, and others, which, according to Hunnes means very little to most people. It’s more meaningful to look at ingredients. “If you are interested in buying the healthiest product, focus on the quality of the item as a whole and look at the ingredient list,” she recommends. “Is it mostly single-food ingredients that you can easily recognize? Is it unprocessed? What are the main components of the product?”
If you see a long list of unpronounceable ingredients, it’s probably best to choose something else. In general, the fewer ingredients, the better.
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