The Food and Drug Administration has been busy at work with makeovers for food labels. Within the last couple weeks, they took on the issue of updating the use of the term “healthy” on the front of the food label, and they’ve now moved on to the side of the food label — and decided to change the antiquated Nutrition Facts Panel, which was established more than 20 years ago.
“We applaud the FDA and are thrilled that the new Panel largely aligns with recommendations the Academy [of Nutrition and Dietetics] submitted to the FDA to help everyone make more informed and nutritious decisions when choosing foods to fit their lifestyles and needs,” registered dietitian nutritionist and AND spokesperson Lori Zanini says. “The new Panel better reflects serving sizes, nutrients and ingredients that people should focus on, and it updates current percent of Daily Values.”
[See: 7 Reasons to Choose a Plant-Based Diet.]
Starting at the top of the new label, both the “Serving Size” and “Calories Per Serving” are in bold print compared to the old label, so now they both jump out to the consumer. The serving sizes will also more closely reflect the amounts of foods that people currently eat.
Say goodbye to the posting of the calories from fat on the old label and hello to updated daily values, or DV, for nutrients such as sodium and fiber. The DV are general reference levels for the nutrients listed on the food label. These give you a ballpark idea of how the nutrients in the foods you buy fit into your overall diet. The new sodium DV is lower at 2,300 milligrams, while fiber is higher, now at 28 grams daily.
[See: 9 Foods Packed With Potassium.]
Moving down the new label, one of the best changes is that the amount of added sugars is now separated from total sugars per serving. This will be a key shopping tool for Americans whose sweet tooth has them consuming 99 grams of added sugar daily, on average. For example, when hunting for the most nutritious breakfast juice, the consumer will now be able to quickly identify that a serving of orange juice and the same amount of an orange beverage — often sold side-by-side in the refrigerated section of the supermarket — are worlds apart in nutrition. While both drinks may have similar amounts of total sugars, the orange drink will now have to show that the majority of the sugars, if not all of them, are coming from ” added sugars.” In contrast, the 100 percent orange juice will contain no added sugars per gulp.
Further down the label, the automatic inclusion of vitamins A and C has been removed and replaced with information about vitamin D and potassium. Both bone-strengthening vitamin D and blood pressure-lowing potassium are two nutrients that many Americans fall short of in their diets. The amounts per serving of these two nutrients, as well as calcium and iron, will also be provided on the label in their actual grams per serving as well as the percentage of the DV.
[See: 8 Foods Loaded With Vitamin C.]
Most food companies have until July 2018 to use this new label on their products. Here’s to more informed food shopping and product comparison.
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Coming Soon to Your Local Supermarket: a New Nutrition Label originally appeared on usnews.com
