FDA Approves new label highlighting added sugar & calories

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  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I actually kinda like it. Will be useful on days when I want to avoid refined sugars.

    Kinda wondering why they got rid of half the vitamins though.
    Anaris2014 wrote: »
    I am struggling to understand the significance of "added sugars" in the nutritional break down of a product. Now total sugars, that makes sense and can be compared to the RDI and so forth.

    However if Product A and B have a similar (total) sugar content, but, as a result of the processing one "adds more sugar" than the other, why should that one product be "named and shamed"? Surely the thing that really matters is the total amount of sugar in the end product. Why should (for example) a soft drink with 12g of sugar be required to advertise it's added sugar while a fruit juice with the same amount of sugar appears to be "healthier"?

    ucm501515.png

    It's worth nothing that, on that site, the example goes from saying 1g of sugar to 12g of sugar - is this just blatant dishonesty or were companies allowed to lie about the amount of sugar? This seems unlikely. It seems that this is a false example meant to make it appear to be necessary. It's worth noting that the calories don't change despite increasing total sugars to 12 times the original value.

    Well, sugar is sugar. But my body won't react the same way to fruit sugar than to refined sugar, so yeah, it can useful.

    Will it in the same context? If a yogurt for example has 50% of its sugar from fruits and fruit juice/pulp added and the other half added sugar, and another yogurt has all of it from the added fruits and fruit juice/pulp, at the same amounts of all nutrients including fiber, the one with added sugar has a different effect on you?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Anaris2014 wrote: »
    It's worth nothing that, on that site, the example goes from saying 1g of sugar to 12g of sugar - is this just blatant dishonesty or were companies allowed to lie about the amount of sugar? This seems unlikely. It seems that this is a false example meant to make it appear to be necessary. It's worth noting that the calories don't change despite increasing total sugars to 12 times the original value.

    I thought it was two different products, but I agree with you it looks like some hack made up a sugar number to illustrate the change.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Here's the honest one that somehow got changed :-

    Ci5xudDWgAI5_m3.jpg

    presumably because there were no added sugars to illustrate ;-)
  • jtakushi
    jtakushi Posts: 1 Member
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    I'm hoping My Fitness Pal will update their food tracking templates to reflect this change in 2018. I'm really happy the FDA required this shift.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
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    I love that they now list added sugars. If I am comparing products at the store, this makes it MUCH easier for me to choose the product I prefer. Which is usually going to be the one with less added sugar. Because I just don't need a ton of extra sugar (or salt, or preservatives or whatever), added to my food by somebody else. Knowledge is power.
  • RhapsodyWinters
    RhapsodyWinters Posts: 128 Member
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    I was about to make a post about this, unsure if people even knew the changes were coming. Good thing I searched to see if a thread already existed. Companies have until July 26, 2018 to comply. Foods imported into the US will also have to comply to the changes.

    Also, I'm not seeing anyone pointing out the changes to serving sizes as well.

    A 12oz can of soda will count as 1 serving. An 8 oz glass bottle of soda will be 1 serving. A 24oz bottle of soda will also be 1 serving.

    I like this. They're also changing things like serving sizes on ice cream. I hope they make the changes to popcorn as well. I just had some that said a serving size was 2 Tbsp unpopped and I was like ".........uh.....do you expect me to pop 2 Tbsp separately from the package? Because that would be suicide". I just had to guestimate how many calories I used popped. It states in here that some serving sizes will increase, and others will decrease. By law, it has to be based off of what people typically eat. Not some magic number nutritionists provide.

    ucm501517.jpg
  • AJF230
    AJF230 Posts: 81 Member
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    What about people that have the gene that "makes them eat the whole go&&amn bag" ? (as per the Onion) :smile:
  • MiamiSeoul
    MiamiSeoul Posts: 1,809 Member
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    This is good, but there still needs to be more consistency between like goods. I hate when I pick up two cans of something and one thing quotes nutritional info for the can and the other is quoting for 3/4 the can!
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,983 Member
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    RhapsodyWinters wrote: »
    I was about to make a post about this, unsure if people even knew the changes were coming. Good thing I searched to see if a thread already existed. Companies have until July 26, 2018 to comply. Foods imported into the US will also have to comply to the changes.

    Also, I'm not seeing anyone pointing out the changes to serving sizes as well.

    A 12oz can of soda will count as 1 serving. An 8 oz glass bottle of soda will be 1 serving. A 24oz bottle of soda will also be 1 serving.

    I like this. They're also changing things like serving sizes on ice cream. I hope they make the changes to popcorn as well. I just had some that said a serving size was 2 Tbsp unpopped and I was like ".........uh.....do you expect me to pop 2 Tbsp separately from the package? Because that would be suicide". I just had to guestimate how many calories I used popped. It states in here that some serving sizes will increase, and others will decrease. By law, it has to be based off of what people typically eat. Not some magic number nutritionists provide.

    ucm501517.jpg

    I'm not a huge fan of the serving size changes given how skewed our views of serving sizes are. Maybe it should be based on what serving size would typical fit within a well balanced diet of the assumed 2000 calorie/day diet.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
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    I think the serving size change could be really useful for items (especially candy) where the calories and nutrition values reflect 2 servings per package rather than the 1 serving that makes sense with a single package. i've been caught that way a few times thinking I'm only eating 150 calories when in reality'm eating 300.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
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    I'm just happy the calories are larger as my eyes get more and more out of wack with age. The Macros you have to have a pretty bad diet to not hit minimum amounts most days and my guess is if you don't you more than likely don't care.

    my 2 cents..
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    edited October 2016
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    The_Enginerd wrote: »
    RhapsodyWinters wrote: »
    I was about to make a post about this, unsure if people even knew the changes were coming. Good thing I searched to see if a thread already existed. Companies have until July 26, 2018 to comply. Foods imported into the US will also have to comply to the changes.

    Also, I'm not seeing anyone pointing out the changes to serving sizes as well.

    A 12oz can of soda will count as 1 serving. An 8 oz glass bottle of soda will be 1 serving. A 24oz bottle of soda will also be 1 serving.

    I like this. They're also changing things like serving sizes on ice cream. I hope they make the changes to popcorn as well. I just had some that said a serving size was 2 Tbsp unpopped and I was like ".........uh.....do you expect me to pop 2 Tbsp separately from the package? Because that would be suicide". I just had to guestimate how many calories I used popped. It states in here that some serving sizes will increase, and others will decrease. By law, it has to be based off of what people typically eat. Not some magic number nutritionists provide.

    ucm501517.jpg

    I'm not a huge fan of the serving size changes given how skewed our views of serving sizes are. Maybe it should be based on what serving size would typical fit within a well balanced diet of the assumed 2000 calorie/day diet.

    Bingo.

    There are people out there that follow the serving sizes on the package as if it's an instruction as opposed to a fairly random value. Just what most people need is an instruction or validation that has them eating more.

    Besides, who are they fooling that 'most' people eat 1/3 of a pint of ice cream as a serving? I usually hear about eating a half or a whole in real life. On here, there's a decent number that stick to 1/4, but I know we're a rarity in the general population.
  • Briantime
    Briantime Posts: 175 Member
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    I'm all for labeling and education. It's when they start banning or taxing things that I really get annoyed...
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    edited October 2016
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    Briantime wrote: »
    I'm all for labeling and education. It's when they start banning or taxing things that I really get annoyed...

    I just feel like anyone who cared before would have read the label anyways. If someone didn't care to begin with, this won't make them suddenly be concerned about calories. I wish they'd focus more on ridiculous serving sizes.. like one serving being 1/2 of cookie that comes in a package that can't be resealed.
  • RhapsodyWinters
    RhapsodyWinters Posts: 128 Member
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    The_Enginerd wrote: »

    I'm not a huge fan of the serving size changes given how skewed our views of serving sizes are. Maybe it should be based on what serving size would typical fit within a well balanced diet of the assumed 2000 calorie/day diet.

    I personally wouldn't mind that either. However, I have a pet peeve seeing small self-portioned packages saying their portion size is part of the container when obviously people eat the entire container. (Like, say you want to bring one of those small cups of macaroni and cheese that you just pop into the microwave. Some have a serving size as 3/4 the container. I highly doubt people stop at 3/4 and go "Well I can't eat another bite"

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