More (Lots more!) On Food Labels

Well, just when I think I’ve provided my audience with a couple excellent and informative pieces on Nutrition Facts Labels (number 2 right here), my friends over at Precision Nutrition have to go and one-up me with an entire series on food labels; not one article, not two articles, but five. If the information wasn’t so damn amazing, I’d be a bit upset. Instead, I’m going to assume that I inspired them to elaborate on such an important subject. Great job, Dain.

Anyway, I encourage you all to peruse each of the 5 articles (it is legitimately very well put-together), but here is a brief breakdown:

Part 1: What’s on your food label?

• This section gives a nice history lesson about food labels, where they came from and why they exist, and gives some interesting information on where certain companies get their nutrition facts; most interesting was likely the answer from Kraft, who provided no information on how they determine the nutritional content of their foods…
• Essentially summarizes that labels are helpful, but that we as consumers should simply use them as guidelines. Whole, unprocessed foods are (as usual) highly recommended.

Part 2: Label claims

• This section gives an overview of common labelling issues (descriptive terms vs. trademarks, the meaning of the term ‘natural’, what does ’artificial’ even mean anymore, incongruous terms that make things seem healthy, etc.)
• Details on how front-package labeling is highly unregulated and misleading
• The very interesting relationship between Nutrition Labels and the American Heart Association (which has endorsed products such as Cocoa Puffs breakfast cereal, Welch’s fruit juice, and other un-heart-healthy foods)
• A great case study outlining the issue with ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) scores for certain foods (in this case, soymilk has a higher score than turkey, and they debunk the crap out of it!)

Part 3: Doing the math

• Here we find an in-depth look at the nutritional information and ingredients on packaging. In particular, they look at how calorie counts don’t accurately reflect how our bodies process food and challenge the classic “calorie math” of “energy in versus energy out”: “while many of us act like calorie tallying experts, data shows that few of us can accurately gauge how many we’re actually eating each day”
• Here is an amazing passage:

“Your body is smarter than you. It’s a dynamic, adaptive, living organism. Not a machine.  Your body can “gear up” and “gear down” its energy use depending on a variety of factors such as hormones, metabolic functions (such as recovering from a hard training session), and perceived food availability.

Ever had the “meat sweats” after eating a big, protein-heavy meal? You’re experiencing the “thermic effect” of harder-to-digest foods. The body has to “gear up” and get things revving to accommodate this demand. Or conversely, perhaps you’ve dieted hard for a long time, and find yourself cold, lacking energy and mojo. Your body’s “geared down” your metabolic functions to conserve energy.”

• They discuss the variables that go into the breakdown of calories in the body, and the variability and margin of error of calories on nutrition labels

Part 4: Being a critical consumer

• This sections discusses what consumers typically look for on labels (whether they know what they’re actually looking for or not), and how the information on nutrition labels can be misinterpreted. We also learn what demographics read labels, and more statistics on why people are or are not using the information properly.
• What is the different between “reading” and “understanding a label. Do nutrition facts labels even help??
• Again, we come back to the lesson: less processed crap, more whole foods.

Hmmm… This label may not be entirely accurate.

Part 5: Putting it all together

• Finally, this section gives out 9 tips and action steps to ensure you’re getting the most from food labels:

1. Slow down: Take your team, read diligently
2. Keep it real: The majority of your diet should come from whole, unprocessed foods; this makes food labels unimportant
3. Prioritize ingredients over calories: If the ingredients suck, it doesn’t really matter much what the calorie, fat and sugar grams are on the label.
4. Comparison shop: Compare products, and pick the ones with more good stuff (protein and fibre, for example) and less bad stuff (sugar and salt, for example)
5. Do it yourself: Don’t trust the ingredients? Take a picture of the label, and go home and make a healthier version yourself!
6. Don’t believe the front of the package: The front lies.
7. Get beyond the numbers: Calories are overrated. Stop obsessing.
8. Use common sense: Don’t trust ads and slogans; turn the package over and check out the ingredients.
9. Set your deal-breakers and “minimums”: If your deal-breakers are on the food label, you don’t buy or eat that food. Period.

And there you have it. A five-article, crash-course on how to read labels and become a more critical consumer. I’d like to think that I covered the most important points in my own two posts, but I’ll give credit where credit is due: this is awesome stuff.

For more information on nutrition facts labels, or anything else nutrition-related, you know how to find me!

- DW