Nutrition Label Confusion
What foods are healthy? Depending on who you ask, you’ll likely get a different answer. No wonder our population is becoming increasingly obese and confused over food labels!
In a New York Times article last week, entitled “For Your Health, Froot Loops,” William Nueman discussed a new food labeling system called Smart Choices. Apparently, cereals like Froot Loops and Cocoa Krispies will receive the checkmark label, largely because of nutrients added to them. The beneficial ingredients can often mask the unhealthy ones, namely sugar, that these products contain. Do you find it surprising that companies must pay $100K/year to participate in the program in the first place? So far, the companies who have signed up include Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, ConAgra Foods, Unilever, General Mills, PepsiCo and Tyson Foods. So what happens to the little guys who actually make foods that don’t have to hide behind sugar masks to tout their healthy insides? Even more importantly, whatever happened to the notion of eating an egg, whole grain piece of toast and possibly a slice of cantaloupe for breakfast? Nutritionists are certainly asking these questions while doubting the validity of the new labeling system.
Recently when I was doing my dreaded speed workout on the treadmill at the gym, I watched an Oprah episode in which Dr. Oz described how to read nutrition labels. Ironically, he illustrated how one of the obese kids in the audience ate about 6-8X the portion of cereal described on the food label. So even though one serving of a sweet cereal might only contain 12 grams of sugar, satisfying the recommended daily allowance for the morning meal, who the heck gets full from eating one serving of cereal? OK, maybe a 2 year old.
But the confusion doesn’t stop there. On this same episode, another of Oprah’s guests was David Zinczenko, author of Eat This Not That. He illustrated the caloric misconceptions of the foods we eat, especially teenagers. For example, he suggested that a glazed donut was better to eat than a multigrain bagel with cream cheese. His criteria for making this choice was strictly caloric content. As you might have surmised, the glazed donut had fewer calories. One has to wonder, however, if the bagel likely has more nutrients, though I’m actually not sure without comparing contents side-by-side. Another point he made to support his case was that the multigrain bagel was made from enriched flour, whereas whole grain breads are not. Though I agree that whole grain breads are preferrable, what the heck does he think a donut is made from?
I was totally stumped on this episode when Mr. ZincZenko compared regular bacon to turkey bacon. I have eaten turkey bacon for a while because I assumed it was a bit healthier than its pork counterpart, although I realize that neither stakes its claim as the pinnacle of healthy foods. The author claimed regular bacon was the preferred choice because it had the same number of calories and less sodium than the same sized serving of turkey bacon. Well, I was so surprised (especially since I call out turkey bacon as a nice substitute to fatty breakfast meats in my book) – I actually went to my grocery store to check it out. I’m not sure which brands of bacon he was comparing, but Jennio-O turkey bacon had fewer calories than any other brand of pork bacon I checked, even the center cut Oscar Meyer variety.
I am a nutrition major and have trouble keeping all the terms and claims straight. And I haven’t even broached the topic of what a certified organic label actually entails (And did you know that manufacturers have to pay a percentage of their sales to a certified organic board to be labeled as such?).
The point of this piece is to suggest that everyone has a different criteria for labeling foods as nutritious. Some care only about calories; others about fat content. Some look at nutrients added to processed foods, while others must restrict sodium regardless of what they eat.
There is one thing that’s hard to argue here. Foods closer to their natural state are better for people. After all, who has to add vitamins to fresh broccoli when they are there in the first place? A moderate portion of almonds is a better snack than Cheeze Nips for the same reason. If you are a chicken eater, it’s better to eat a breast freshly delivered to the grocery store than to purchase processed chicken nuggets covered in a nutrient-void batter. But I’ll save that topic for another date.
Sometimes all the over thinking and over-labeling gives me a headache. Just think natural state and moderation, and you’ll automatically make the better choice without a multibillion dollar corporate-backed labeling system making the decision for you.
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