New Nutrition Labels

Fiery_Vixen

Have you guys heard about the new nutrition labels due to come out? What do you guys think? Personally, I think its a great idea, making them reflect TRUE serving sizes. Who in their right mind would actually consider 1/2 a muffin a serving size?



http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/nutrition-labels-facelift-reflect-reality-122521120--abc-news-health.html?vp=1

ffargynnig

Love the serving size thing, who decided serving sizes in the first place?

MityMax96

Interested to see how the new labels look....

SezxyStef

psh I think it's like caution signs...people complained that they were getting fat and all because food lables were bad so the government is stepping in and making it easier for stupid people to know how much they are eating...I mean really a package of uncle bens rice is not 210 calories...a serving size of 1/2c is...read people..read.

It's like putting a sign on the toaster "caution when hot", this sort of thing prevents natural selection from doing it's job.

common sense does not prevail.

As well the serving size is not 1/2 a muffin it's probably 75g but that half a muffin is for those who don't like numbers.

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

Like it! Now add a daily recommended value to sugar, it will be awesome.

SezxyStef

Interested to see how the new labels look....

And it's in the US only...

I will be interested to see what is and isn't included...protien? carbs? fats? etc.

DrMAvDPhD

All the hype and it turns out they're just going to bold different thing and change a "serving size". If you actually bother to read labels, this will change nothing.

The only thing that's really "new" is this idea of putting "added sugar". And honestly, I think that's a little stupid. Your body can't tell the difference between sugar that is added or sugar that occurred naturally.

ActuarialChef

Interested to see how the new labels look....

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/health/new-fda-nutrition-labels-would-make-serving-sizes-reflect-actual-servings.html?smid=tw-share&_r=3

This article has a sample of a new label next to a current label.

I, for one, am pleased to see Vitamin D added as a required statistic. I have low vitamin D levels, even with doctor-prescribed supplements, so this would help me make good choices about higher vitamin D foods.

eldamiano

Have you guys heard about the new nutrition labels due to come out? What do you guys think? Personally, I think its a great idea, making them reflect TRUE serving sizes. Who in their right mind would actually consider 1/2 a muffin a serving size?



http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/nutrition-labels-facelift-reflect-reality-122521120--abc-news-health.html?vp=1

I thought one muffin was a quarter of a serving.....

fannyfrost

They have been talking about this for like 2 years. I think it is an improvement.

FYI, my personal favorite random serving size is on the I Can't Believe Its Butter spray, the serving size when I looked at it was 1/10 of a spray. I was like ?????

Acg67

Why are they even putting calorie counts on the new labels, I've heard calories don't matter anymore

serindipte

KHalseth

I have not heard this. It is a great idea. Really, who makes a can of soup and turns it into 1.5 or 2.5 servings. The former will be one serving and the second will be one or two servings but never setting aside a half serving. I know there are people from different countries on here, so I wonder what country is doing this.

I do know my dietician would like them to take the cholestoral line off the labels. She says it confuses people because that is NOT the cholestoral that people have to watch. It the cholestoral that come from the saturated fat so you have to watch the saturated fat percentage if you need to lower your cholestoral.

Wendy__D

I'm not a fan of the serving sizes changing based on what people eat instead of what they should eat. Looking at serving sizes has helped me eat a 1/2 cup of ice cream instead of more and that's enough. And yes I sometimes do partial servings now but I struggle to think increasing what constitutes a serving size is to being something so random and changeable is going to help battle obesity. I'm thinking of how they used to recommend so many servings of fruits/vegetables a day... so now they'll tell people to aim for 4 if you get it from this container but only 2 if you get it from this one?

Sunitagt

I wish they had kept vitamin a&c, but in general, I like the changes.

CaitlinW19

I'm curious to see them, but not sure I love the idea...I guess in some cases for me it's great...like cereal, I do not just have 1/2 cup of cereal. But I can't say the same for ice cream or a lot of other things...having the small portion sizes listed sometimes is what keeps me taking a small portion. On the news this morning everyone way saying "no one only has 1/2 cup of ice cream" and I was like...uh I do...all the time.

But often times the servings are just plain unrealistic. Most people probably would put ice cream in that category. It just irritated me that the generalization was made repeatedly that no one eats to those serving sizes. I guess I'm a weirdo.

I love that the information people need to be paying attention to (number of servings per container) is really visable though. I'm totally trained to always look at this, but I know a lot of people aren't (most people probably) and it's crazy when your bottle of juice, for example, is 2 or 3 servings. I think this change, along with the bolder calorie information, is enough to make the label more meaningful to people that don't usually pay attention. Leave the serving sizes alone.

chezjuan

I'm curious to see them, but not sure I love the idea...I guess in some cases for me it's great...like cereal, I do not just have 1/2 cup of cereal. But I can't say the same for ice cream or a lot of other things...having the small portion sizes listed sometimes is what keeps me taking a small portion. On the news this morning everyone way saying "no one only has 1/2 cup of ice cream" and I was like...uh I do...all the time.

But often times the servings are just plain unrealistic. Most people probably would put ice cream in that category. It just irritated me that the generalization was made repeatedly that no one eats to those serving sizes. I guess I'm a weirdo.

I love that the information people need to be paying attention to (number of servings per container) is really visible though. I'm totally trained to always look at this, but I know a lot of people aren't (most people probably) and it's crazy when your bottle of juice, for example, is 2 or 3 servings. I think this change, along with the bolder calorie information, is enough to make the label more meaningful to people that don't usually pay attention. Leave the serving sizes alone.

I am also a 1/2 cup (66g:bigsmile:) ice cream eater, unless I get the really good stuff, then I do have a bit more sometimes if it fits in to my goals. I only eat a single serving of cereal too, but that is also because I almost always add a banana and eat a cup of Greek yogurt when I have cereal. If I am eating cereal alone, I may have more than one serving.

I think the increase in serving sizes is a cop-out. The argument seems to be "that was a serving in the 80s, but now people eat more. Rather than try to educate people on what a good serving size should be, let's just make the data match the larger size." I actually think that making the serving sizes larger based on "who eats only XXX of XXX food" (which I see as an indicator of potential failure in any weight loss plan, BTW) will encourage people to eat more. "Hey, the serving size is one cup! Great!" (then they will, of course, take 2 cups ).

Edited for typo

craftywitch_63

I had not heard about the new nutrition labels, I'm glad you told me. I like Proposal 1. Proposal 2 seems a bit preachy, I don't believe grown adults need to be told what and how much to eat. Yes, I know about the obesity epidemic, but people can choose to be obese if they want. If we really wanted to change the labels for the better, we would do what the UK does: pick a measurement (I was told the UK uses 100 grams as a standard) and measure the calories from that. If we did that, we wouldn't have all of the confusion about things like Splenda, spray margarine, cooking spray, and diet soda. We also need to require companies to list ALL calories, even if it's under 5 calories.



Edited so you can see the picture!

Rage_Phish

does it really matter? nothing changes with the serving size thing.

its still telling you the exact same info, just with a different proportion

1/2 cup = 100 cals
1 cup = 200 cals

same as it ever was'd

chezjuan

does it really matter? nothing changes with the serving size thing.

its still telling you the exact same info, just with a different proportion

1/2 cup = 100 cals
1 cup = 200 cals

same as it ever was'd

That's true. But then I have to do math, not the people eating more than one serving.. :laugh:

MelodyandBarbells

I love proposal 2!! (Thanks for posting it). Look for foods with big numbers on the "get enough" and small numbers on the "avoid too much". Bet the food industry quashed that one pretty quick :laugh:

I like more realistic serving sizes. Yeah, 1/8th of a slice of pizza