Updated Food Labels

This has been a long time coming (about 20 years!) and truthfully has much further to go but score one for the nutritionally aware. With the proposed food labeling changes the hope is that reading food labels won’t seem like reading a foreign language and will draw more attention from consumers. This would presumably result in better-informed buyers and possibly, hopefully lead to healthier food choices overall. It has been shown that those who pay attention to food labels (on average) weigh less than people who ignore the labels. Here are some of the proposed changes:

Declaration of added sugars- this will identify if, and more importantly, how much more sugars are added to a product that are NOT naturally occurring. These foods tend to be lower in nutritional value and the excess sugars and are large contributors to weight gain and related chronic diseases.

Removing “calories from fat”- The calories from fat are less of a concern than the TYPES of fat in the product.

Including amounts of “required nutrients” that are often inadequate – this would include Vitamins D and K as well as continue to include calcium and Iron.

Updating Serving Sizes – Current labels represent information from 20 years ago and the NEW labels will represent serving sizes of what people currently consume (even if it is more than what an ideal serving should be). This will include changing some products that used to be multiple servings to single serving as research has shown the total amount would typically be consumed in one sitting regardless. (Think soda bottle sizes).

Update Label Design – Ultimately remaining very similar with slight modifications to highlight the most important info and to make reading easier.