added sugar
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kjoisdrumming
Posts: 2 Member
redesigned nutrition labels will highlight the added sugars in food. how does this / what will this look macros? when will myfitnesspal implement this setting?
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Replies
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MFP already tracks sugar, you have the option of including it under your micronutrients.
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I expect MFP will add "added sugar" as something to track once the labels have been required and go into effect (who knows when, I think it's been pushed back and would not be surprised if it gets pushed back again).
I suspect MFP will have a limit for 10% of calories as added sugar, as that's the US Dietary Guidelines. (The WHO says 10%, but further says 5% is even better, but I'd predict that MFP goes with the 10%.)
I'd hope that they would drop the general sugar guideline, as it would be (arguably is now) pointless.
It won't affect macros, carbs, fat, and protein would not have any reason to change.
IMO, if one hits or exceeds fiber, hits or exceeds a reasonable protein limit, gets adequate fat/healthy fats, and stays within one's calorie limit, one probably is fine on sugar and if you are concerned you can eyeball where your sugar is coming from and how much total you are getting, so I don't really see this change as a big deal, but I hope that maybe it will stop people thinking they have to worry about eating fruit (because sugar) when it's within their calories and as part of a balanced diet.2 -
kjoisdrumming wrote: »redesigned nutrition labels will highlight the added sugars in food. how does this / what will this look macros? when will myfitnesspal implement this setting?
Most data base entries are user crowd sourced...MFP doesn't create them. Breaking out added sugar on food labels is new...I actually haven't seen one yet...but it will require users making a lot of new entries to the data base and including added sugar in those entries...MFP will just have to create an option for that but given that the labeling requirements are new and haven't been fully implemented, I'd think it would be something not too high on the priority list.0 -
There is currently a U.S. FDA proposed (not yet approved) ruling 2017-21019 to extend the compliance date to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until Jan. 1, 2021.
Note that the U.S. FDA definition of "Added Sugars" includes naturally-occurring sugars when added to a food item.
For example, a bottle of pure honey will list zero Added Sugars. A container of yogurt that has been sweetened with honey will have the naturally occurring lactose and honey listed in the total sugars, but the honey added to sweeten it even further would also be broken out as Added Sugar on the yogurt Nutrition Facts label.
I think even after the final rule is implemented, tracking "Added Sugars" is not going to be exactly what most consumers expect (or desire) what it really means.1 -
I don't think MFP should break them out.
First, this database has been being "built" since 2005. All the items that are Admin added would have to be re-worked, and they already don't "work" correctly. Plus there is no way to even discern which ones are "correct" anyway without doing some homework.
I say let sleeping dogs lie on this one. We can already track sugar. If you can't look at an entry and do a little manual calculation in your head - well - this site will be annoying as all get out to you. Same thing with net carbs. I mean, it takes two seconds in my head!!1 -
kjoisdrumming wrote: »redesigned nutrition labels will highlight the added sugars in food. how does this / what will this look macros? when will myfitnesspal implement this setting?
In which country?1 -
There is currently a U.S. FDA proposed (not yet approved) ruling 2017-21019 to extend the compliance date to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until Jan. 1, 2021.
Note that the U.S. FDA definition of "Added Sugars" includes naturally-occurring sugars when added to a food item.
For example, a bottle of pure honey will list zero Added Sugars. A container of yogurt that has been sweetened with honey will have the naturally occurring lactose and honey listed in the total sugars, but the honey added to sweeten it even further would also be broken out as Added Sugar on the yogurt Nutrition Facts label.
I think even after the final rule is implemented, tracking "Added Sugars" is not going to be exactly what most consumers expect (or desire) what it really means.
Hmm what you describe is Exactly what I think added sugar is. What did you have in mind or expect? (Honest inquiry b/c curious).0 -
There is currently a U.S. FDA proposed (not yet approved) ruling 2017-21019 to extend the compliance date to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until Jan. 1, 2021.
Note that the U.S. FDA definition of "Added Sugars" includes naturally-occurring sugars when added to a food item.
For example, a bottle of pure honey will list zero Added Sugars. A container of yogurt that has been sweetened with honey will have the naturally occurring lactose and honey listed in the total sugars, but the honey added to sweeten it even further would also be broken out as Added Sugar on the yogurt Nutrition Facts label.
I think even after the final rule is implemented, tracking "Added Sugars" is not going to be exactly what most consumers expect (or desire) what it really means.
Hmm what you describe is Exactly what I think added sugar is. What did you have in mind or expect? (Honest inquiry b/c curious).
I think many users might expect to see the sugar, honey, or other sweeteners they chose to add to foods (and to their food diary) to show up as added sugars. But the way that it's being described here, if I log a breakfast of oats, strawberries, and a tablespoon of sugar, my diary would show no added sugars for the meal.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »There is currently a U.S. FDA proposed (not yet approved) ruling 2017-21019 to extend the compliance date to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until Jan. 1, 2021.
Note that the U.S. FDA definition of "Added Sugars" includes naturally-occurring sugars when added to a food item.
For example, a bottle of pure honey will list zero Added Sugars. A container of yogurt that has been sweetened with honey will have the naturally occurring lactose and honey listed in the total sugars, but the honey added to sweeten it even further would also be broken out as Added Sugar on the yogurt Nutrition Facts label.
I think even after the final rule is implemented, tracking "Added Sugars" is not going to be exactly what most consumers expect (or desire) what it really means.
Hmm what you describe is Exactly what I think added sugar is. What did you have in mind or expect? (Honest inquiry b/c curious).
I think many users might expect to see the sugar, honey, or other sweeteners they chose to add to foods (and to their food diary) to show up as added sugars. But the way that it's being described here, if I log a breakfast of oats, strawberries, and a tablespoon of sugar, my diary would show no added sugars for the meal.
I guess I understand, but none of those items had sugar ADDED to in during manufacturing so I would also say 0 added sugar to the meal items. Obviously ( to me) using a sugar is adding it - but that isn’t the way the food came to you. Just like salt. If I ADD it, obviously my sodium content would exceed what was listed in the label.
I guess both viewpoints have merit and whichever way the labels went would confuse someone.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »There is currently a U.S. FDA proposed (not yet approved) ruling 2017-21019 to extend the compliance date to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until Jan. 1, 2021.
Note that the U.S. FDA definition of "Added Sugars" includes naturally-occurring sugars when added to a food item.
For example, a bottle of pure honey will list zero Added Sugars. A container of yogurt that has been sweetened with honey will have the naturally occurring lactose and honey listed in the total sugars, but the honey added to sweeten it even further would also be broken out as Added Sugar on the yogurt Nutrition Facts label.
I think even after the final rule is implemented, tracking "Added Sugars" is not going to be exactly what most consumers expect (or desire) what it really means.
Hmm what you describe is Exactly what I think added sugar is. What did you have in mind or expect? (Honest inquiry b/c curious).
I think many users might expect to see the sugar, honey, or other sweeteners they chose to add to foods (and to their food diary) to show up as added sugars. But the way that it's being described here, if I log a breakfast of oats, strawberries, and a tablespoon of sugar, my diary would show no added sugars for the meal.
I guess I understand, but none of those items had sugar ADDED to in during manufacturing so I would also say 0 added sugar to the meal items. Obviously ( to me) using a sugar is adding it - but that isn’t the way the food came to you. Just like salt. If I ADD it, obviously my sodium content would exceed what was listed in the label.
I guess both viewpoints have merit and whichever way the labels went would confuse someone.
I think some people would expect to see the tablespoon of sugar reflected in their daily total for added sugar in their diary. Not added to the oats or strawberries, but part of their daily rolling total for added sugar.
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There is currently a U.S. FDA proposed (not yet approved) ruling 2017-21019 to extend the compliance date to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until Jan. 1, 2021.
Note that the U.S. FDA definition of "Added Sugars" includes naturally-occurring sugars when added to a food item.
For example, a bottle of pure honey will list zero Added Sugars. A container of yogurt that has been sweetened with honey will have the naturally occurring lactose and honey listed in the total sugars, but the honey added to sweeten it even further would also be broken out as Added Sugar on the yogurt Nutrition Facts label.
I think even after the final rule is implemented, tracking "Added Sugars" is not going to be exactly what most consumers expect (or desire) what it really means.
Hmm what you describe is Exactly what I think added sugar is. What did you have in mind or expect? (Honest inquiry b/c curious).
I think the point is, if I have a teaspoon of honey, it is not added sugar, it's intrinsic. So I have 6g intrinsic sugar in my diary.
If I take some honey and add it to plain yogurt before I eat it, I'm logging the honey separately, so those 6g will still show as intrinsic sugar.
But if I buy yogurt that the manufacturer added a teaspoon of honey to before sealing it up, that is now 6g of added sugar.
I ate the exact same thing, but one gives me 6g of intrinsic sugar and the other gives me 6g of added sugar. That's if I'm understanding it correctly
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There is currently a U.S. FDA proposed (not yet approved) ruling 2017-21019 to extend the compliance date to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until Jan. 1, 2021.
Note that the U.S. FDA definition of "Added Sugars" includes naturally-occurring sugars when added to a food item.
For example, a bottle of pure honey will list zero Added Sugars. A container of yogurt that has been sweetened with honey will have the naturally occurring lactose and honey listed in the total sugars, but the honey added to sweeten it even further would also be broken out as Added Sugar on the yogurt Nutrition Facts label.
I think even after the final rule is implemented, tracking "Added Sugars" is not going to be exactly what most consumers expect (or desire) what it really means.
Hmm what you describe is Exactly what I think added sugar is. What did you have in mind or expect? (Honest inquiry b/c curious).
I think the point is, if I have a teaspoon of honey, it is not added sugar, it's intrinsic. So I have 6g intrinsic sugar in my diary.
If I take some honey and add it to plain yogurt before I eat it, I'm logging the honey separately, so those 6g will still show as intrinsic sugar.
But if I buy yogurt that the manufacturer added a teaspoon of honey to before sealing it up, that is now 6g of added sugar.
I ate the exact same thing, but one gives me 6g of intrinsic sugar and the other gives me 6g of added sugar. That's if I'm understanding it correctly
This is a good scenario that explains what I was trying to convey. Thank you @kimny72.
I think a good portion of consumers, when reading a label listing "Added Sugars," would expect that any added sugars would only come from things that do not have intrinsic (or naturally-occurring) sugars. Since honey contains only intrinsic sugar, I think the average consumer would not have expected that any added honey would literally be listed as added.
Maybe I am not giving the average consumer enough credit to figure this one out on their own, but based on reading many threads here on MFP the past four years I am leaning toward thinking there will be quite a bit of initial confusion regarding exactly what "Added Sugars" means.0 -
I would assume that honey would be added sugar (the WHO calls it "free sugar"), since it is essentially being used as a sugar substitute or similar to sugar. I would also assume maple syrup would count as added sugar. But that it apparently would not be if you added it yourself is pretty weird. And it shows why a more holistic approach to sugar is really a better one: I still don't see why a rhubarb sauce or oats with raspberries and (in both cases) a bit of added sugar would somehow be off limits (for someone who decided that added sugar is bad, bad, very bad) and an apple not when all have micronutrients, all have fiber, and the apple probably has the most sugar (although sugar itself is not a problem anyway).
On the whole I think cmriverside's points above are really good ones. I'm generally on the "who cares" side about having a guideline for sugar vs. added sugar, except I feel like lately there have been lots of questions about going over the low sugar goal at 1200 cal (45 g) with mostly fruit and veg and I think this would at least cull out sugar from other sources (mostly) which might make some people better able to understand the numbers. (Also, pet peeve is the misleading example of pasta sauce having tons of added sugar when in many cases most of the sugar is likely from tomatoes.)1 -
Lemur, thanks.
The questions that are repetitive in the forums about sugar and carbs would just be multiplied X50 if this happens - which I doubt it ever would.
They haven't replied to Net Carbs in the last ten years that people have asked, and this is just more of the same skullduggery IMO. We can't even get people to stop asking the most basic of questions, and already in this thread are some really smart people who don't agree on "what it means."
I'd put $$ on no MFP action. Maybe we could worry more about this if it ever happens...1 -
I don’t know how MFP will or won’t handle it, but whether they do nothing or something it will likely cause confusion, IMO.
Pasta sauce, yogurt, mayonnaise whatever, I just wish added sugar were on the label now. I for one don’t want the extra sugars. How can I know how many sugars were there naturally or added to the product? I can’t and I don’t assume it’s an insignificant amount- the point is I don’t know. And it matters to me.
I get some people don’t care about sugar added or not. The label changes and any MFP changes shouldn’t matter to them anyhoo.2 -
I want to restart this discussion. Is MFP planning to add Added Sugars where I can set a goal of Added Sugar grams? (I'm aware that the body doesn't necessarily process them differently, etc. I'm not interested in that debate, just whether it will be an option to track added sugar)
Thanks!0 -
I'd ask it in the Suggestions/Feedback section below or email MFP. It's unlikely anyone will see it here who knows anything about what MFP will do.
IMO, it would be hard to do, as it would screw up so many pre-existing entries, as they can't go back and add "added sugar" to those. But maybe eventually.
Even now you can (of course) have a personal added sugar goal and look through logged items to estimate added sugar (or actually note it in the notes section). Depends on how much added sugar you consume whether that's easy or not -- for me it's pretty easy, and we had a thread for a while where people were aiming to stay under personal goals.0 -
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herouxron315 wrote: »
Here's the biggest problem (well, two problems.)
1. The U.S. recently added "added sugars" to labels, but the database is worldwide and not all labels contain it.
2. The database has been crowd-sourced and added to since 2005. There is no way to go back and fix all the millions of entries.
The way to fix it for yourself (if it's that important to you) is to enter your own foods into the database and then they will be available to YOU in your MY FOODS list.1 -
herouxron315 wrote: »
That response was also from three years ago and they person they were responding to has all of 2 posts from three years ago.2
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