Since the Nutrition Food Facts label came into being in 1993, many people are more aware of the calories, nutrients and other elements in the food we buy. I recently taught a class for high school students on protein in the diet. They knew the right answers to give but when I asked them how they used nutrition information in their lives, they looked at me like I was from the moon. I am afraid that most of us are the same way about reading the food labels. We are aware that the small package of cheese puffs contains 2.5 servings and each of those servings has 20% of the sodium a person needs for the day but it has not yet stopped me from eating the whole package!
Unfortunately, most of us are eating larger serving sizes and as a result obesity is on the increase. Obesity and a number of chronic health conditions including diabetes go hand in hand. In an effort to help consumers become more aware of the number of servings in a container of food, FDA is proposing new food labels that will have the "number of servings" in large bold print. This is also true for the calorie content of each serving. The dietary guidelines for Americans recommend reducing calories from added sugars and solid fats.
For the first time, "Added Sugars" will be included on the label. On the average, Americans eat 16 per cent of their calories from sugars that are added to foods. The amounts of potassium and Vitamin D would be required on the label. Vitamin D is important for healthy bones, especially among women and the elderly. Potassium helps to lower blood pressure and prevent hypertension. Part of the changes in this system would be updating the serving size from what a person should be eating to more realistic serving sizes which most of us are actually consuming.
The goal of the new food labeling system is not to tell you what to eat but to give you the information to make the best choices possible. According to FDA proposals, the food industry will be given two years to comply after publication of any final rules governing the Nutrition Facts label. For people with diabetes, the food labeling system is a valuable source of information. We all just have to make the leap from knowing what to do to actually putting our information and knowledge into action. I didn't have the heart to tell those high school students that it doesn't get any easier when you get older!
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