Food Labels: What Do They Tell Us?

Do we bother to check labels on foods we eat? Those labels can help us make informed choices about what goes into our bodies. In May 2016, the U. S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced changes to update food labels, the first revision since 1993. Changes intend to make them more user-friendly. Except for smaller food industries, new labels will go into effect on July 26, 2018. What changes can we expect?

• The updated design will showcase “calories” and “servings.” Manufacturers will print these two categories in bold and use larger font sizes.
• Serving sizes will more readily reflect what people actually eat instead of what is healthier to eat. As an example, the previous ½ cup serving size for ice cream is changing to 2/3 cup.
• A new addition to labels will identify “added sugars” to help consumers follow the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans which recommend no more than 10 percent of total daily calories come from added sugars.
• Package contents that fall between one and two servings will be labeled as one serving since that is what most individuals will consume, i.e. 20 ounce soft drinks will be considered as one serving since most will drink the entire beverage.
• Updated daily values (DV) of some nutrients (sodium, dietary fiber, vitamin D) will reflect recommendations of the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Institute of Medicine. DV refer to amounts of nutrients the body needs daily, and in many cases, the amount one should not exceed. Labels use %DV to represent the amount in food, and a footnote will help consumers better understand what that means.
• Levels of Vitamin D and potassium will include actual gram amounts and the %DV. Calcium and iron will remain on labels with grams and %DV listed. Vitamins A and C, however, will no longer be required since these two vitamins are rarely deficient in the American diet. Nevertheless, food manufacturers may choose to list these two as well.
• “Calories from Fat” will be deleted, but types of fat―“Total Fat,” “Saturated Fat,” and “Trans Fat”―will remain. Evidence suggests that the type of fat is more significant than the number of calories derived from fat sources in a given food.
• Dietary supplements will also reflect the same label changes.

The new label design and revamping of information should make it easier to read and understand the contents of the foods we eat. It remains up to us to use this information to choose the types and amounts of foods to promote healthier lifestyles.

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