How the new food labels can save your life

My cousin Louie is the family philosopher. He likes to say that nothing in life is 100%. What he means is that nothing is perfect, an observation that is certainly true of the new food labels.

The new labels give us a lot of very important and useful information. However, there are some facts that are simply not provided, and, believe it or not, there are also some leftover shady areas that will successfully confuse or mislead the consumer who is not careful. I'll explain.

The Lunchtime Lesson

A brand of turkey hot dogs boasts newly designed packaging that proudly displays the following marketing magic: 85% Fat Free, 15% Fat. I was taken in at first as I'm certain most consumers are. The problem is the catchy phrase refers to percent fat by weight, not percent fat by calories. The difference that distinction makes is significant. Just watch. One turkey frank or "link" (as the manufacturer calls it) weighs 45 grams. Of those 45 grams, seven grams are from fat. Thus, the 15% fat figure cited on the label. When it comes to calories, however, the story is dramatically different. Each link equals 90 calories. Since one gram of fat has nine calories, we multiply seven (the grams of fat in one frank) by nine (the calories in one gram of fat) for a grand total of 63. In other words, 63 of the 90 calories in one frank are calories from fat. I'm no wizard when it comes to math, but even I can see at a glance that each turkey hot dog is approximately 70% fat! Not the best choice for a low-fat lunch.

How can this happen, you ask? Nutrition claims such as Percent Fat Free are precisely defined under the Food and Drug Administration's new rules. The problem is that processed meats like hot dogs are not regulated by the FDA, so confusing claims like this one can still pop up to mislead you.

The Sugar Free Story

Under the new labeling regulations, sugar free means less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving. The positive sounding phrase has become a popular one and is used frequently to describe products that contain the artificial sweetener Nutra-Sweet. Seems harmless enough on the surface, doesn't it? But I'll bet if I took a survey, I'd find that most consumers think sugar-free products are also calorie free, or, at the very least, low in calories. Unfortunately, this is not the case--a fact you'd be wise to remember the next time you start gobbling those benign little breath mints as a between meal snack. One roll of the sugar-free variety can contribute almost 100 calories to your daily total.

Read...And Read Again!

For years now, I've been buying whole wheat bread instead of white bread. It is usually a richer source of fiber, vitamins and minerals than its paler counterpart. I also prefer the nutty flavor of most whole grain breads. But, I learned long ago to look specifically for the words whole wheat or 100% whole wheat, and I will have to continue to take this precaution even with the new labeling requirements. Why? Because it's still perfectly legal for a baker to add, say, brown sugar to your old garden variety white flour in order to create a bread that is brown and looks like whole wheat. If you pick up a loaf that appears to be whole wheat but has only the word wheat on the label instead of whole wheat, you won't be purchasing what you thought you selected.

Healthy Is As Healthy Does

Healthy is what we all want to be--right? Food manufacturers know this, and so they wisely use this all-purpose description to decorate anything and everything that has any hope of landing on a supermarket shelf. And believe it or not, use of healthy is not covered under Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) regulations! However, healthy will be defined under a separate proposal. According to the definition used there, a food product that is low in fat and saturated fat, and has no more than 480 milligrams of sodium and 60 milligrams of cholesterol in one serving has earned the right to be called healthy. Until this restriction is in effect, my advice is to read the nutrition panel very carefully for any product that is described as healthy. Remember, it pays to be suspicious when it comes to health claims on food labels.

What You See Is Less Than What You Get

I know some of you found it nutritionally reassuring to read that interminable listing of vitamins on the old food label because it meant that every time you took a mouthful, you were being fortified. Take heart. Remember, our chief dietary problem today is one of excess--not lack. That's why the new label puts the spotlight on fat, cholesterol, sodium and calories. It does not enumerate the levels of B vitamins, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin, because most Americans are getting sufficient amounts of these nutrients today. If a food is especially fortified with such nutrients, or a manufacturer makes a specific claim that they are present, they must be listed. Otherwise, this level of detail is not required.

Many health experts agree with the new label's strong emphasis on macronutrients. Most are happy that Daily Value percentages for vitamins A and C, iron and calcium are included. But more than a few nutritionists are concerned that the importance of other vitamins and minerals is being downplayed.