Have you ever looked at a nutrition label and thought it was in a different language? Grams? Soluble fiber? Polyunsaturated fat? Is the average person really supposed to understand what these things mean in relation to the health of the food they are buying? The good news is labels may be getting much easier to understand very soon. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says they are planning to update the label you’ll see on the back of containers of boxed foods, canned goods, drinks and desserts “based on the latest science-based nutrition recommendations.”
The nutrition label we are familiar with today has not always been around. In fact, according to CNN online, most food labels did not list any nutrition until the 1960s. At that time people were not eating a significant amount of processed foods so the nutrition label was not as necessary. The FDA said it last updated the nutrition label in 1993 and are finally making it a priority to update the label in 2014.
Nutritionists have some suggestions of their own for the new and improved nutrition label, according to CBS News. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit organization, joined in, sending a list of its suggestions to the FDA to take into consideration. There seems to be an overwhelming vote for more prominent calorie values, amount of added sugars and percentage of whole wheat in the food. They also want to get away from grams, the metric system’s unit of measurement. CBS News reported nutritionists think it would be easier for consumers to understand measurements given in tablespoons or teaspoons, something Americans are more familiar with than grams.
Dr. Eric Vlahov, a nutrition professor at the University of Tampa, spoke on the potential changes in the works for nutrition labels. “I want to stick with putting amounts in grams and milligrams,” Vlahov said. “For the vitamins and minerals, the amounts needed are very tiny. A gram is very tiny (a gram of meat is about the size of a kernel of corn) and with a milligram being one thousandth of that amount – well, we just don’t have an understandable unit (like tablespoon) in the American form of measurement.”
It is legal for manufacturers to combine natural and added sugar on the label so it may be favorable to require them to be listed separately, according to CBS News. In addition, it is legal for manufacturers to label a product as “whole wheat” when it may actually make up just a miniscule amount.
It would be helpful for the label to tell me what I should eat to consume one serving size, not tell me what qualifies for 2.5 serving sizes, forcing me to figure out what one serving’s worth is on my own. Chances are if I’m hungry I don’t want to spend any more time trying to calculate how much is in one serving, and it seems I’m not the only one. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said it “would also like to limit the amount of math you now have to do when counting calories. If you have ever looked at a label and realize you’ve eaten twice the serving size, you’ll appreciate that request,” according to CNN.
A recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated in recent years the number of Americans paying attention to nutrition information has increased dramatically. It is no secret to anyone that America has an obesity epidemic. The amount of working adults paying mind to nutrition labels has increased from 34 percent in 2007 to 42 percent in 2014, according to CNN online, and this is hopeful for us as a nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than one-third of all Americans are obese.
“There’s no question obesity is a central public health concern that the nutrition facts panel can play a role in. It’s obviously not a magic wand but it can be an informative tool,” said Michael Taylor, FDA Deputy Commissioner, according to huffingtonpost.com.
Students as well as people of any age could benefit from paying more attention to nutrition labels. Marinna Hughes is a health conscious junior studying public relations and is a vegan.
“Americans need to realize that it’s less about the amount of calories in food and more about how nutrient dense the food actually is,” Hughes said.
There have not been any final decisions made on the updated nutrition label, but a clearer representation of what we are putting into our bodies can help everyone live healthier lives.
“The FDA planning to update nutrition labels is a positive step in helping people understand what is in the food they’re eating and how much they want to consume,” Hughes continued.
The food industry is less than eager to make changes to the nutrition label, for this could mean a more realistic representation of how unhealthy certain products are. The more the American people understand about the food they are feeding themselves and potentially their families, the less eager they may be to buy these foods.
“If the population is going to lose weight, it’s going to eat less food, so that means less business for [the food industry],” said Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity on huffingtonpost.com.
Changes in the nutrition label we are all familiar with could come by the end of this year and the benefits could help America as a nation. Front side labels, hard to miss calorie counts and understandable serving sizes could be right around the corner and if you ask me they could not come soon enough.
Acery Twible can be reached at avery.twible@spartans.ut.edu