I wrote this post on May 20 -21, 2016 after the FDA announced new labeling requirements for packaged food manufacturers. The manufacturers will be required to provide additional information and modified information on the Nutrition Facts Panel (NFP). This applies to all companies, but smaller ones have longer to comply. The FDA announced July 2018 as the official effective date, but we know from past FDA associated labeling initiatives that this date could change.
The FDA press release - which you can access here - offers highlights of the changes, and many news sources have covered the story. What I want to do is put the changes in the context of my blog re: nutrition disclosures that help us consume fewer calories across venues.
So does this change help? Probably - or to some extent. First, the revised labels have an increased 'reference serving size'. The noted serving size may merely be a declaration to allow the nutrient content to be calculated, because people rarely (if ever) dole out cups, ounces, or grams and even if they did, it would be more cups, ounces, or grams than the label suggests. The update, a slightly larger serving size, appears to be a compromise between what people are actually eating and what they are supposed to be eating. In other words, it is probably still not realistic. One example of a serving size change involves ice cream. Instead of a 1/2 cup, a label will say 2/3 cup. I imagine most people scoop out more than 2/3 a cup of ice cream for themselves, therefore, if a person wanted to know the actual calories or sugar they consumed, they'd have to do the math (just as before). Also people may think that the label refers to an actual cup of some sort, not a measuring cup.
A similar issue with serving sizes is unchanged. They are not exactly uniform across similar products - the serving sizes may all be a 1/2 cup but the weight - the precise measurement - will vary. Boxes of cereal and cartons of ice cream, as opposed to say, a can of soda, are actually figured by weight, grams usually. So a serving size might be 2/3 cup on five cartons of ice cream but the weight of each 2/3 cup could be different. So to be frugal with our calories like we are with our dollars, we need to know the calories per unit. You don't get to see an orange shelf tag with this information but you can do the math, e.g. calories per serving divided by grams in a serving gives you the calories/gram.
Another change on the NFP is that sugar grams will come with a % DV. I've never been much of a fan of the % daily value disclosure on a label. It is based on a 2000 calorie/day diet and the majority of women, myself included, require less, say 1500 to 1800, so again, math is required. There is a trick that can make the percentages useful. If the item on the label is a nutrient of concern (meaning we get too much of it, like calories, sugar and sodium), look for a low %DV. Low is 10% or less. There are very few nutrients that Americans lack, but for those, look for high %DV. For example, it would be great to have products with vitamin D and calcium at 20% or higher.
Small packages, ones that people are likely to consume all at once even if they 'technically' contain 2 or 3 servings, will now have dual labels. There will be a column with the serving size nutrient information and a column with the whole package nutrient information. For items like a 20 ounce soda, where the expectation or custom is to drink the entire bottle in one 'sitting' the nutrient and calorie content will only be for the entire package (who drinks 8 ounces of a 20 ounce soda and saves the rest for tomorrow?). BTW, that is why I go for diet sodas in 12 ounce cans, I do not need 20 ounces, its too much; and for some diet sodas, the trace calories will become meaningful beyond 12 ounces.
There are a couple more changes, which are not as relevant to the theme of my blog. You can review them by clicking on the above link.
I'll end with two important things the new labels do not address. The information is still on the back of the package and the rule doesn't amend the new vending machine law to include sugar grams with the point of purchase calorie disclosure. Because the Nutrition Facts Panel is still on the back of the package the prospective buyer has to pick up and turn each product around (the new rule does not mandate or standardize front of pack labels and this is a disappointment). And consequently, this rule won't help us purchase low 'added sugar' snacks from vending machines because we can't see the back of the package at the time of purchase.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Why we focus on food deserts and not food swamps
Most people have heard the term food desert. A food desert is a place where people live and do not have reasonable access to whole foods, or fresh produce. Often this is measured by some distance to a grocery store. For example, in some places people live close to convenience stores and fast food restaurants, but would have to travel several miles, sometimes 10 or 20, to get to a grocery store. In these same areas, there may be high rates of obesity - however, there are high rates of overweight and obesity across the USA. Some speculate that not living close to a grocery store where one can access produce is a 'cause' of obesity (i.e., they associate food deserts with obesity). And it is not just availability, it's affordability, too. If the fresh produce costs more than processed foods, they are less accessible. If children have to try foods several times to like them, and a parent is on budget, it makes it hard to buy more expensive items that might not be eaten.
Access and affordability are things that public health advocates work to change AND that the electorate/society supports. Right? Of course we should make sure everyone has access to nutritious foods that are often low in calories. YAY! Let's do it.
Research has not always supported the intuitive, however, and sometimes people who have access to fruits and vegetables still don't purchase or consume them. Why not? Well, my educated/informed opinion is because a good many people live in food swamps. I am not sure where I first heard or read the phrase, but I describe a food swamp as an area where high calorie foods - often low in nutrients - are in abundance, are cheap, easy to locate, highly advertised, branded (e.g., KFC, Doritos, Pepsi) and popular among children, adolescents and adults. Actually, these foods and their promotions (e.g., all you can eat buffets, $1 hamburgers, 3 for 1 honeybuns, 32 ounce sodas) are hard to avoid.
As noted above, the popular strategy for dealing with a food desert is to bring more fresh foods in - build a grocery store or a farmers market, add produce to the convenience store checkout, send in a mobile produce truck - and hope people will purchase, prepare wisely and eat more nutritious foods. Oh and here is the most important part... eat them instead of the high calorie non-nutritious foods they have been eating. Every one agrees, yes - those are all good strategies... yay, lets fund them! [They don't work so well, but they seem smart and non-paternalistic, therefore, it must be right.]
The strategy for food swamps (which is as unpopular as the food desert strategy is popular) is policy and regulation. I believe that food swamps are the bigger problem and that regulation and policy are our best bet at trying to reduce over consumption of calories (often occurring passively, i.e., not intentionally eating extra calories). Examples include, limiting the number of fast food/quick casual restaurants that can surround neighborhoods, schools, and worksites (zoning laws), putting a sales tax on high calorie, low nutrient items, like sugar sweetened beverages (specifically I say a sales tax because consumers are more likely to notice a sales tax than an excise tax and sales taxes cannot be 'eaten' by the manufacturer unless they literally lower the prices of their products), putting calorie counts out in front on everything, everywhere (menu boards, front of packages, sodas) and educating people on what is considered a 'high' amount of calories (e.g, a dinner entree over 500 calories is high, if it is part of a days worth of meals), portion caps - like suggested in NYC might work, and limiting ads for high calorie foods or ad space (e.g., TV, public transit, magazines, websites, social media). I think our grocery stores should have makeovers as well. The cheap, high calorie foods should not get prominence and promotion. This is one of the main reasons I believe that strategies to add fruits and vegetables to neighborhood stores or whole grocery stores to neighborhoods, fail. It is hard to get through the mire of junk - physically, emotionally, socially, parentally - to the better for you items.
And before anyone points out that the food swamp policies I mentioned are regressive (i.e., they will have a bigger impact on persons of lower income) I say YES, and obesity and its related disease conditions is also regressive and has a greater impact on persons of lower income.
My point is, that though it might sound good (especially politically) to make fruits and vegetables and other nutritious foods available and accessible, what we really need is to make low nutrient (junk) foods and drinks LESS available and accessible (less cheap, less popular, less in our face). And as that annoying prince on the TV show Outlander says, "mark me" I am right about this.
Access and affordability are things that public health advocates work to change AND that the electorate/society supports. Right? Of course we should make sure everyone has access to nutritious foods that are often low in calories. YAY! Let's do it.
Research has not always supported the intuitive, however, and sometimes people who have access to fruits and vegetables still don't purchase or consume them. Why not? Well, my educated/informed opinion is because a good many people live in food swamps. I am not sure where I first heard or read the phrase, but I describe a food swamp as an area where high calorie foods - often low in nutrients - are in abundance, are cheap, easy to locate, highly advertised, branded (e.g., KFC, Doritos, Pepsi) and popular among children, adolescents and adults. Actually, these foods and their promotions (e.g., all you can eat buffets, $1 hamburgers, 3 for 1 honeybuns, 32 ounce sodas) are hard to avoid.
As noted above, the popular strategy for dealing with a food desert is to bring more fresh foods in - build a grocery store or a farmers market, add produce to the convenience store checkout, send in a mobile produce truck - and hope people will purchase, prepare wisely and eat more nutritious foods. Oh and here is the most important part... eat them instead of the high calorie non-nutritious foods they have been eating. Every one agrees, yes - those are all good strategies... yay, lets fund them! [They don't work so well, but they seem smart and non-paternalistic, therefore, it must be right.]
The strategy for food swamps (which is as unpopular as the food desert strategy is popular) is policy and regulation. I believe that food swamps are the bigger problem and that regulation and policy are our best bet at trying to reduce over consumption of calories (often occurring passively, i.e., not intentionally eating extra calories). Examples include, limiting the number of fast food/quick casual restaurants that can surround neighborhoods, schools, and worksites (zoning laws), putting a sales tax on high calorie, low nutrient items, like sugar sweetened beverages (specifically I say a sales tax because consumers are more likely to notice a sales tax than an excise tax and sales taxes cannot be 'eaten' by the manufacturer unless they literally lower the prices of their products), putting calorie counts out in front on everything, everywhere (menu boards, front of packages, sodas) and educating people on what is considered a 'high' amount of calories (e.g, a dinner entree over 500 calories is high, if it is part of a days worth of meals), portion caps - like suggested in NYC might work, and limiting ads for high calorie foods or ad space (e.g., TV, public transit, magazines, websites, social media). I think our grocery stores should have makeovers as well. The cheap, high calorie foods should not get prominence and promotion. This is one of the main reasons I believe that strategies to add fruits and vegetables to neighborhood stores or whole grocery stores to neighborhoods, fail. It is hard to get through the mire of junk - physically, emotionally, socially, parentally - to the better for you items.
And before anyone points out that the food swamp policies I mentioned are regressive (i.e., they will have a bigger impact on persons of lower income) I say YES, and obesity and its related disease conditions is also regressive and has a greater impact on persons of lower income.
My point is, that though it might sound good (especially politically) to make fruits and vegetables and other nutritious foods available and accessible, what we really need is to make low nutrient (junk) foods and drinks LESS available and accessible (less cheap, less popular, less in our face). And as that annoying prince on the TV show Outlander says, "mark me" I am right about this.
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