Help the FDA Improve

NUTRITION FACTS LABELS

The FDA is reconsidering the Nutrition Facts Panel. Almost 20 years after the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, and with soaring rates of obesity, one could argue that the goals of a healthier, slimmer America have not been achieved.

The Food and Drug Administration, charged with most foods’ nutrition labeling realizes this. So it has decided to experiment with changes, additions, and omissions in order to improve consumer understanding of what they are about to eat.

But before building the experiment, the FDA is soliciting comments from the public, and that includes us – you, me, and whoever cares about nutrition. Unfortunately, the digital hallways of the federal government are not user friendly and it is not trivial to find the right webpage to comment. This means that in many cases, the only comments come from food manufacturers and trade groups. You can probably guess what their comments will look like.

So here’s some help from Fooducate. Not only did we dig up the single click that takes you straight to the comment page, we’ve also collated Seven Label Improvement Suggestions [see below] that you can suggest to the FDA.

The invitation to comment by the FDA can be downloaded [PDF] or viewed online.

You need to submit your comments by January 19, 2010. For reference, the docket number is FDA–2009–N–0532 and you can submit your comment here.

Seven Suggested Label Improvements:

If you are contemplating what improvements the FDA should undertake, let us help with a few examples. Feel free to “copy paste” when you file your comment with the FDA.

1. Show REAL serving size. Have you ever noticed the ridiculously small serving sizes on packages – 3 Oreos? 15 potato chips? Or a single serve 20 fl oz bottle of cola written up as containing 2.5 servings? Manufacturers like to minimize the servings to toddler size portions so that the nutrition facts per serving won’t seem too bad (calories, sugar, etc…). This is misleading and needs to change to reflect how people really consume food and drink.

2. How much ADDED sugar? The nutrition label states the amount of total sugar in a serving, but it does not indicate whether the sugar is added to the food, occurs naturally, or both. Caloric-ly, there is no difference between added sugar and sugar found naturally in fruits and vegetables. But the benefit of fruits containing naturally occurring sugars is in the additional vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidantss and phytochemicals they provide. Added sugars provide no health benefits. They are truly empty calories. People should choose products with as little added sugar as possible. Unfortunately, today consumers can only guess how much sugar has been added to a product.

3. Daily Values for Protein, Sugar. These numbers don’t appear on nutrition labels today and consumers can only guess if 5 grams of protein are a lot or a little. As most people consume plenty of protein daily, this will decrease the marketing hype around high protein bars and snacks. As for sugar, people don’t know what amount is an acceptable daily intake of total sugar, and of added sugar.

4. Zero should be zero. Did you know that if a product contains trans fat, but less than 0.5 grams per serving, it can legally be labeled as 0 gram of trans fat? This is ridiculous. Knowing this, manufacturers can “calibrate” serving sizes to be just under half a gram’s worth of trans-fat, thus earning the right to place the coveted zero number on the nutrition label. But when wolfing down a snack bag (real serving size much larger than labeled – see #1 above), you could be getting even 1.25 grams of trans-fat, all while thinking that the product contains none at all.

5. Caffeine content. Products that contain caffeine should clearly state the amount. People are often surprised to discover caffeine in soft drinks, cakes, and other snack items. Some energy drinks contain ridiculously high amounts. Physicians have asked the FDA to require caffeine labeling on energy drinks.

6. Allow rBGH-free labels. rBGH / rBST is a hormone injected into cows to increase their milk output. The hormone has been associated with various health risks for humans consuming the milk. People should know if their milk comes from cows treated with these hormones.

7. Label Booz. Alcoholic beverages should be labeled as well. At a bare minimum, provide serving size and calories.

Click HERE to submit your comments to the FDA.

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On Friday, the newly reinvigorated FDA sent a letter to 30 beverage manufacturers, giving them one month to show that caffeine in alcoholic beverages is indeed safe for consumption.

“Today the FDA has listed caffeine only as an ingredient for use in soft drinks,” said Deputy Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. “The agency has not approved caffeine for use in alcoholic beverages.”

What started a decade ago with youngsters mixing red-bull into vodka at parties, has become a national “epidemic”. College students are now spared the mixing and can get caffeinated booz directly from one one bottle or can. The market for caffeinated alcoholic drinks is about 1% of the total beer industry, or about $1 billion.

What you need to know:

Some young people mistakenly believe that the caffeine will cancel the effect of the alcohol. In fact, they become alert drunks.

Studies have shown that mixing alcohol, a depressant, and caffeine, a stimulant, can cause people to feel less drunk than they actually are. As a result, simultaneously wired and inebriated college kids are more prone to accidents and over time, alcoholism.

Last year, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer watchdog organization, warned both MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch of its intent to sue them over the caffeination of alcoholic beverages. Several state attorneys had also sent inquiries to manufacturers.

Those actions helped Anheuser-Busch decide to take caffeine and other unapproved additives out of its two alcoholic energy drinks, Bud Extra and Tilt in June 2008. In December 2008, Miller Coors, the giant beer conglomerate, cut the caffeine out of its popular Sparks beverage.

Now that the FDA is weighing in on the issue, hopefully the rest of the industry will follow suit. Unfortunately, collegiate party animals will still be left with the original option of mixing energy drinks and alcohol, a choice that hopefully less of them will make.

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Last week, the FDA  hinted it would be seriously looking at regulating Front of Pack (FOP) nutrition labeling systems. As a result, Smart Choices called it quits, and other programs are “on alert”. The FDA’s involvement can be of great assistance to the public, by creating a single unified system in ALL supermarkets and on ALL packages.

But first, wouldn’t it be nice if the FDA cleaned up the mess originally created when the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) brought us the nutrition facts label as we know it today?

Here’s a list of 10 things the FDA can do to improve the existing information on labels. Read more…

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Could cocaine be the secret behind Red Bull’s success?

Six German states have banned Red Bull after

the food safety agency in North Rhine-Westphalia (LIGA) state found 0.4 micrograms per litre in the drink.

While Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection both said the level did not pose a threat to public safety, it was thought more states may join the ban.

Read more…

What you need to know:

We wouldn’t fret about the use of a decocainised coca leaf extract in Red Bull. Coca leaves have been used in South America for centuries. The tiny amounts of extract used in energy drink should be the least of your worries.

The real ingredients to worry about in Red Bull and other energy drinks are caffeine and sugar. Highly popular with teens and students, these products provide a buzz that supposedly improve alertness and help students cram for tests.

However, there is a risk in over consumption of caffeine. Caffeine intoxication can cause nervousness, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, nausea, vomiting, tremors and rapid heart rate.

An 8 oz. can of Red Bull contains 27 grams of sugar, which is almost 6 teaspoons. Do you really need that much?

What to do at the supermarket:

Water is always a better choice for hydration, and a cup of espresso certainly has ample caffeine.

But if you really must drink some energy juice, choose something low in sugar and with a rational caffeine count. Since caffeine amounts do not appear on most product labels, check in advance if there is a particular brand you or your teen is interested in. Here is a helpful list from energyfiend.

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A bit of good news this week. 16 million less Americans are drinking sugary soft drinks now compared to 6 years ago (68% of adults vs 76%). This, from a report published by Mintel, a marketing research firm.

What are we drinking instead?
That’s the bad news:
1. 7.8 million switched to diet soft drinks.
2. 24 million added bottled water to their shopping carts. (the healthiest choice, but oh so many plastic bottles…)
3. 17 million more gulped down energy drinks. (the caffeine, the calories…)
4. 11 million additional future Olympians opted for sports drinks. (the broken dream of  enhancement…)

The study also found that 16% of Americans are concerned about high-fructose corn syrup, while 15% are worried about artificial sweeteners in diet drinks.

At the same time, an academic research report affirms what dietitians have been telling us for quite some time: cutting calories from sugary drinks may be more effective for weight loss than reducing the same amount in solid foods.

The study was  conducted by Liwei Chen, M.D., Ph.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of epidemiology, School of Public Health, LSU Health Science Center, New Orleans and published this week in  the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:

One reason for this [finding] is that the body is able to self-regulate its intake of solid food. For example, if you eat too much solid food at lunch, you’ll tend to eat less at dinner. But the same self-regulation is not there for what you drink, experts say. Your body does not adjust to liquid calories, so over time, you gain more weight, Chen explained.

Thestudy “supports what many have suspected — liquid calories don’t satisfy,” said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. “In addition, the identification that [sugar-sweetened beverages] can impact weight gain more than other liquids is an important message as Americans continue to work to lower their calories.”

more details…

What you need to know:

Soft drinks are a very lucrative market for the food industry. The raw materials are dirt cheap (water, sugar, food coloring), and the returns are very high.

The top 2 players in the US, The Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo, are well aware of shifting trends in consumer preferences and have plenty to continue to offer us from their quiver of brands picked up over years of consolidation.

What to do at the supermarket:

Here’s a radical idea. Why not skip the beverage aisle next time you go shopping?

Tap water in the US is clean, refreshing, and of negligible cost.

In fact, a family of 4 will save over $500 in grocery bills by just quitting soft drinks.

What are you waiting for?

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It took a lawsuit, but Nestle and the Coca Cola Company, who jointly market Enviga Green Tea, need to stop claiming it reduces weight. From the LA Times:

Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal began an inquiry in 2007 seeking evidence that consumers who drink Enviga burn more calories than they take in. Blumenthal, who had said the claim might be “voodoo nutrition,” led the coalition of states and the District of Columbia in the settlement.

The companies agreed to re-label Enviga to add disclosures and disclaim weight-loss benefits, Blumenthal said Thursday. Any marketing of Enviga or a similar beverage that uses the terms “the calorie burner,” “negative calories” or “drink negative” must clearly disclose that the product doesn’t lead to weight loss without diet and exercise, he said.

“The Enviga lesson is that weight loss requires sound diet and exercise, not simply a concoction of caffeine and green tea,” Blumenthal said. “Enviga’s calorie-burning claims led to credibility loss more than weight loss.”

read the entire article…

What you need to know:

Health claims are regulated by the FDA, and must be based on sound science. In many cases the science is only partially established. In those cases, the health claims are qualified by a disclaimer (which usually appears in a much smaller font at the bottom of the package).

Enviga was introduced in 2006. The studies which led Nestle and Coke to the revelation that their caffeine based concoction will burn calories is based on a simple fact -  any caffeine product speeds up metabolism and creates a calorie burning effect for a limited time. The additional antioxidant EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate), found in green tea, has not been found to “burn calories”.

It’s too bad Enviga doesn’t state the amount of caffeine in each can, but of course, that kind of information is not interesting to consumers, is it? Thankfully EnergyFiend has a list of all energy drinks and their caffeine content. Enviga boasts 100mg of caffeine in a 12 oz. can, roughly three times more than regualr Coca Cola, and 15% less than the Red Bull equivalent.

What to do at the supermarket:

Our usual advice is to avoid health claims, as they are merely marketing hype. Read the ingredient list and the nutrition label to get your facts. Watch your caffeine consumption by inquiring about the caffein levels in various drinks.

If you want to lose weight, limit your daily intake of calories, and exercise regularly. Processed foods, and even worse, liquid candies, will not be your savior.

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It’s been almost 20 years since the nutrition label as we know it was introduced. The intent was to empower consumers to make more informed (read: healthy) purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, the labels have not helped, as America continues to grow, and not in a good way.

While blaming the inadequacy of the nutrition panel is a naive approach to America’s relationship with its food, there are certain oversights or loopholes in the way packaged food information is provided to consumers today. For example, health claims or nutrient claims, which appear in large font on the front of package, embellish one positive trait, say “low-fat”. The nutritional cost may be a product high in sugar content as compensation. But such details appear in the side panel (the nutrition label is never up front), and consumers don’t always bother to check.

We’ve compiled a list of improvements that can make labels and packaging even more informative, hopefully providing consumers with  better tools to make a decision. Consumers will benefit from increased transparency of nutrition and ingredient information. Read more…

Time Magazine has published its Top 10 of Everything issue, and the food list is filled with great insights into what we were thinking about this past year. Some of the interesting trends:

Recession dining - people are saving on food wherever they can.
Nanny-state food regulations - Obviously the Time editors don’t like menu labeling laws.
Salmonella Saintpaul – recap of this summer’s food scare.
The war on bottled water – Tap water is the new black.
Caffeinated foods – as if Red Bull and its clones weren’t enough.
The backlash against local food - not as friendly to the environment as previously perceived?

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We wrote last week about studies recommending that energy drink labels include caffeine content information. USA Today informs us that:

One hundred scientists and physicians have written a letter to the Food and Drug Administration asking for more regulation of increasingly popular energy drinks because their high caffeine content puts young drinkers at possible risk for caffeine intoxication and higher rates of alcohol-related injuries.

Read article…

What you need to know:

“You can pick up a can and drink it and get 50 milligrams, which is the amount in a Mountain Dew, or pick one up and get 500 milligrams, and that’s enough to put someone who hasn’t built up a tolerance to caffeine into caffeine intoxication, resulting in nervousness, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, nausea, vomiting, tremors and rapid heart rate”

What to do at the supermarket:

Since caffeine amounts do not appear on most product labels, check in advance if there is a particular brand your teen is interested in. Here is a helpful list from energyfiend.

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From the New York Times:

…now a new study suggests that manufacturers of the [caffeinated] products should be required to list caffeine content and recommended limits, including a warning about use by children.

Writing in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers noted the tremendous increase in sales of drinks like Red Bull, which they said ranged in caffeine content from 50 to 505 milligrams per container. A six-ounce cup of coffee has from 77 to 150 milligrams.

Read More…

What you need to know:

Energy drinks are a huge business in the US, with revenues of over $2.5 Billion a year. Their main ingredient is caffeine. An 8 oz cup of coffee has around 100mg of coffee, so does Red Bull. But Redline has more than twice as much – 250mg! A small warning on the can says only one should be consumed per day.

Here are some caffeine values for various drinks:
Sprite (12 fl oz) 0mg
Coke Classic (12 fl oz) 34mg
Diet Coke (12 fl oz) 45mg
Mountain Dew (12 fl oz) 55mg
Iced Tea (12 fl oz) 70mg
Red Bull (12 fl oz equivalent) 115mg
Redline Energy Drink (12 fl oz equivalent) 375mg
Cocaine Energy Drink (12 fl oz equivalent) 400mg

Decaf coffee less than 5mg
Green Tea 15-50mg
Cup of coffee 65-175mg
Cup of black tea 70mg

What to do at the supermarket:

Currently the caffeine content of most drinks is not disclosed on the nutrition label. Most manufacturers do have the information available if you ask. Or check on the web. Be especially careful with energy drinks your children consume.