The Nutrition Facts Labels Gets a “Facelift”

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In 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was signed which mandated that all packaged foods should include a nutrition label. With the exception of including trans fats, it has not changed since. Nutrition is a growing science, and the label should reflect this. Changes are to include more relevant information based on how Americans realistically eat and will be in a much easier format to understand. The most important change is inclusion of added sugars because not every sugar is the same, as many believe. The population’s sugar intake is too high; studies show that American’s consume 16% of their total calories from added sugars. The calories from fat line will be removed as this information is not helpful in deciding if a product is healthy or not. Knowing the type of fat is more beneficial.

A major change proposed is increasing the serving sizes to what Americans are realistically consuming and having a larger display of calories per serving, but some fear that this might encourage individuals to eat more. Dietitians are suggesting that using visual aids, such as the stop light color system or a thumbs up/down sign will be more effective. There are other ways to be as effectiveness without encouraging consuming a larger portion. It will also make the label easier to read and understand. Inclusion of additional vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, iron, and vitamin D is proposed since Americans do not consume an adequate amount. The percent daily value will be removed and milli or microgram values will be listed so people can easily track exactly how much or their recommendation they are actually. These changes to the label will help community members make better choices and could influence food companies to want to change some of their products so they don’t have to expose how unhealthy it really is. Seeing a poor nutrition label will influence community members not to buy it, so these proposed changes can be a threat to some food companies.

Yeager, D. (2014, July). The nutrition facts label. Today’s Dietitian, (16)7, 44.
-SK

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