UNDERSTANDING FOOD LABELS: Separating Fact & Faction
by Dr. William Rice DC, DACBN, CCN, FACCN

According to regulations, all processed foods must appear with new labels in compliance with the 1990 Nutrition Labeling & Education Act. All this began in May 8, 1994. The new label contains comprehensive nutritional information under a section now called "Nutrition Facts".

Food labels must include information about the following nutrients:

Total calories	Calories from fat	Total fat	Saturated fat
Cholesterol	Sodium	Total carbohydrates	Dietary fiber
Sugars	Protein	Vitamin A	Vitamin C
Calcium	Iron

If a manufacturer makes a claim about any other nutrient, such as enriched or fortified, then information about that nutrient is mandatory. The nutrient content per serving will be reported as a percentage of the Daily Value. Some of these figures are based on the number of calories consumed per day, with 2000 calories established as the reference.

One of the most important changes in the label will be a standardized and uniform serving size that reflects amounts that people actually eat. This was one area that the old labels could intentionally fool unsuspecting customers. The old label could state that a food had only 2 grams of fat, but the serving size might have been one very small cookie. That is not possible under the new label law. One exception is with foods that are a single unit, such as a slice of bread, muffin or a cookie. The law allows a single unit to be considered one serving if that single unit is greater than half of an established unit. For example, a very large cookie that weighs more than one-half ounce would be considered one unit (one ounce is the usual serving size).

The new law also permits a label to make certain health claims. It can mention that a food is high in calcium, which can help prevent osteoporosis. The label may state that it is low in saturated fat and cholesterol reducing your risk of coronary heart disease. It can mention that a product is high in fiber. The law allows a company to say that it contains fruits and vegetables that are recommended to prevent cancer. Foods may advertise reducing the risk of heart disease because contains fruits, vegetables and grain products. Finally, a manufacturer may promote their product as low in sodium that helps reduce high blood pressure.

Another nice change in the law is that a product cannot make a health claim about one nutrient if another factor in that food undermines that health benefit. For example, a high fiber, but high-fat doughnut cannot make any claim. Nor can whole milk make any claims due to its high fat content, but skim milk may claim that it helps build strong bones and prevent osteoporosis due it calcium content.

After waiting for years to standardize the labels you can finally read a label and not guess what their promotional labels mean. The following descriptions have a concrete meaning you can use to buy healthier foods for you and your family:

"Light or Lite" describes a product only if it has one-third fewer calories or 50% less fat than the food to which it is being compared. This is not always significant. Consider premium ice creams, like Ben & Jerry’s or Haagen Daaz--they are so high in fat that one-third fewer calories is still too high.

"Light or Lite" Sodium can only be claimed if the product contains 50% less sodium than the original product. The same problem can be seen with a condiment such as soy sauce. Fifty percent less is still very high sodium for someone who needs to avoid salt.

"Sodium-free or Salt-free" means a product has less than 5 mg of sodium. "Very low in sodium" - means a food contains less than 35 mg of sodium. "Low in sodium" - less than 140 mg of sodium.

"Fat-free" now means that product has less than ½ gm fat in a serving.

"Low-fat" means it has 3 gm or less fat per serving, but prepared meals may have 3 gm of fat per 100 gm (3½ oz)

"Lean" refers to meat, poultry, seafood, and packaged meals with less than 10 gm of total fat, 4 gm of saturated fat and 95 mg cholesterol.

"Extra Lean" means less than 5 gm total fat, 2 gm of saturated fat and 55 mg cholesterol.

Remember saturated fat and "trans" fatty acids raise cholesterol more than foods high in cholesterol

Fiber -- Recommended more than 25-30 gm of fiber daily.

"Excellent or High" Source -- a product must have at least 20% of the Daily Value.

"Good" source -- A product must have 10-19% of the Daily Value.

"No cholesterol" -- a product must have less than 2 mg of cholesterol per serving and less than 2 gm of saturated fat. But in other high-fat foods, such as olive oil, the product must also list the amount of fat in a serving next to the "no cholesterol" claim.

"Cholesterol-free" -- can only be claimed when a company eliminated cholesterol from a food that usually contains some, such as cookies.

EXEMPT PRODUCTS: plain coffee, tea, some spices, flavorings, ready-to-eat deli & bakery items, restaurant food, food produced by small businesses (unless they make health claims).

Foods in small packages, such as Tic Tacs, don’t need labels, but must list a telephone number or address where consumers can get the required information.

OTHER PITFALLS IN THE LAW
1. Check the serving size. The new label law sets a "reference" serving size for all foods, based on what people typically eat. For example, almost all cookies have to use a one-ounce serving size. The exception is large cookies. Any food that comes in a "unit" (like a slice of bread, a roll or a muffin) can use a single unit as a serving size if that unit weighs at least one-half of the reference serving.

The bottom line: Check the serving size. If it’s not what you eat, adjust accordingly.

2. Low fat -- The new rule is that one serving must have less than 3 grams of fat to be labeled low fat. The problem is that low-fat milk (2%) has 5 grams of fat and it is all saturated fat.

3. "Made with Fruit" -- It may be written on many labels over the supermarket, but the problem is that some foods don’t have much fruit. The new labeling rules, don’t address most claims about an ingredient, like fruit, bran or whole wheat. Beware.

4. "Healthy" -- Most foods have to qualify as "low-fat" and "low-saturated fat" before they can be called "healthy." The problem is that main dishes and meals have to meet very loose criteria and because so many foods now labeled "healthy" are high in sodium, the FDA is phasing in limits:

As of January 1, 1996, "healthy" foods must have no more than 480 mg of sodium per serving (meals & main dishes can’t exceed 600 mg).

As of January 1, 1998, "healthy" foods must have no more than 360 mg of sodium (meals & main dishes can’t exceed 480 mg).

Look for "healthy" foods, but don’t assume that they’re all low in fat and sodium. Read the labels carefully.

5. The new labeling laws exclude meats including poultry & fish.

6. Sugars -- Very often several sugars are listed on the label, for example, corn syrup, fructose, sucrose or honey. When taken together you might be surprised to find more sugar than any other ingredient.

7. No Cholesterol? -- Sounds great doesn’t it? Sounds like this stuff won’t raise your cholesterol at all. Wrong. Oreos made with "partially hydrogenated oil" means they contain "trans" fat, which raises the cholesterol as much as saturated fats.

If the food is "low-fat" there’s too little trans fat to worry about.

If a label lists "monounsaturated fat" and "polyunsaturated fat" as well as "saturated fat," you can add these three together and subtract the total from the "total fat" to get a rough idea of how much trans fat the food contains.