1. Potato Chips date back to 1853. An unhappy customer at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, NY kept returning his fried potatoes to the chef, requesting they be prepared much thinner. The chef sliced them so thin that they could not be eaten with a fork, and thus was born the potato chip.

2. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that potato chips expanded from restaurant food and started selling in bags.

3. Flavored chips were born in the 1950’s by a small independent manufacturer who then sold the concept to the larger corporations.

4. As junk food goes, potato chips contain only 3 ingredients (potatoes, oil, salt) and are considered by some nutritionists the lesser of savory evils.

5. Potato chips were sold for over $15B (!!!) last year worldwide. They tally up about one third of all savory snacks.

6. While we call them potato chips, our overseas friends use the word crisps.

7. A single serving of potato chips, 1 ounce, contains only 150 calories, 10 grams of fat and 180mg of salt. That’s less than 10% of the daily calories of most people, about 15% of the fat, and 8% of the maximum sodium intake.

8. Problem is that most people don’t stop at one serving. Honestly, are 11 chips enough for you? People can wolf down 5 times that amount in sitting, dip not included…

9. One of the most popular flavored potato chip varieties is Sour Cream and Onion. Compared to just 3 ingredients in the original version, this one has 20 ingredients including MSG, Palm oil, and artificial colorings.

10. Just in case you were wondering, this national holiday does not appear in congressional records. It’s just another made up holiday by snack food industry marketing geniuses.

What to do at the supermarket:

Potato chips don’t have to be a daily ritual with your lunch sandwich. However, if you do buy them, choose potato chips that have been minimally processed -  Stay with the plain, unflavored chips as they have no additives and colorings. Buy single serve 1 oz. bags of chips so that you won’t be tempted to eat more than one serving at a time.

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In a blow to consumer in the UK, and possibly in the US, The Food Standards Agency (same as our FDA) has decided to back off their proposed traffic light nutrition labeling on the front of food packages. According to the Daily Mail:

The FSA board yesterday supported a plan that will allow food companies to decide for themselves whether they want to use the colour-based system or a number of alternatives.

The net effect is that families will continue to be confronted by a range of confusing nutrition labelling schemes that are difficult to decipher.

Tesco and other leading industry figures have spent millions of pounds trying to kill off traffic light labelling.They have developed alternative schemes which critics insist only serve to confuse customers.

The decision by the FSA is a major climb down by the Government watchdog. Its support for traffic light labels was central to a wider policy to tackle the problem of rising obesity and ill-health. Read more…

What you need to know:

This is an unfortunate happening that is bound to have a ripple effect on our labeling regulations as well. The FDA is getting more aggressive with the food industry’s misleading health claims. The next step would be to create a standard front of pack labeling system that would serve consumers by not only embellishing positive traits of a product, but also warn about high levels of negative nutrients such as sodium, sugar, and saturated fat.

The “problem” with the traffic lights is that they were scaring off customers. People would see one or two reds and decide not to buy a product. That’s why the industry came up with various multicolor solutions where the color itself is meaningless, for example GDA (guideline daily amount).

What to do at the supermarket:

Until the government regulatory bodies figure out how to save us, let’s help ourselves by learning to read nutrition labels and ingredient lists.

(Thanks Greg Miller for the hat tip)

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Yoplait has a new Greek style yogurt out. There’s a massive marketing campaign tie in to the new Clash of the Titans movie and Athena portraying actress Izabella Miko. Strong woman eats good yogurt. Greek gods, Greek Yogurt, Yadda yadda…

The yogurt pack prominently displays “2X Protein..of the leading yogurt”. Wonder what that means. We decided to take a look inside the nutrition label and ingredient list to see if this yogurt is really healthy or just some more mythology…

What you need to know:

A serving is 6 ounces (170 grams) and will set you back 130 calories, none from fat. The sugar count is 18 grams, much lower than a standard Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt (27 grams). Of the 18 grams, 9 are naturally present in yogurt in the form of lactose. So the added sugar count is 9 grams or just over 2 teaspoons.

There’s no fiber, though you’d expect some from the fruit. There’s 12 grams of protein here, much more than in the standard Yoplait (5 grams). But protein is not an ingredient most people lack in the US. We get plenty of protein from other sources during the day. And the claim that it’s twice the protein as other leading brands is misleading, because Chobani Greek yogurt has 14g.

Here’s the ingredient list:

CULTURED PASTEURIZED GRADE A NONFAT MILK, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SUGAR, STRAWBERRY PUREE, KOSHER GELATIN, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, COLORED WITH BEET JUICE CONCENTRATE, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, , VITAMIN A ACETATE, VITAMIN D₃.

The first and obvious ingredient is milk. Non-fat milk in this case. The second is an ingredient called milk protein concentrate, made by ultra filtering milk to take out the lactose and then dry it up into a powder. There’s a lot of controversy around this ingredient as it is mostly imported from countries with dubious food safety records, and may not even be from cows (think yak and water buffalo). So why add protein in this manner to the yogurt, when in any case it’s not something consumers really need?

Ingredient number 3 and 4 are sugar. Well actually number 4 is strawberry puree, but it’s lost all its fiber and vitamin C, so all you’re getting is a bit of strawberry flavor and a lot of sugar. By the way, the strawberry puree is not red enough, so there is added coloring from the beet juice concentrate. That’s fine, at least it is a natural colorant, and not some artificial dye or bug juice.

The gelatin adds a thickness or consistency that would not have been required from a full fat yogurt. It’s kosher, which means it was not derived from animal sources.[UPDATE: see comment below]

The last three ingredients are fortifications of calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D. Always better to get them directly from food in which they are naturally present, not from add-on.

Summary: This yogurt is a better choice than the standard Yoplait option.

What to do at the supermarket:

As far as yogurts go, choose plain. It has less ingredients and less sugar. It lets you add fresh nutrient rich fruit of your choice giving you the added benefit of fiber and vitamins directly from the source, no fortifications.

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Think of a healthy fast food chain. Which one comes to mind?

If you chose Subway, you’re not alone. According to a recent survey by market research firm Decision Analyst, Subway is the fast food franchise consumers trust the most for nutrition information.

Subway is the leader in consumer trust with almost one-quarter (24.2%) of consumers saying they “completely trust” its nutritional claims…42% of Subway customers choose this restaurant because it “has a good selection of healthy items,” compared with only 3% of Taco Bell consumers who select this restaurant for its healthy menu.

“Subway owns the nutritional claim relative to its competition, as there is a significant gap between Subway and these other popular fast food/quick-service restaurants.” read more…

Sorry to rain on this parade folks. Subway has taken pains to portray itself as a healthy fast food, and if you look at the nutrition information on their menus and website, it is quite impressive.

Until you read the fine print. Read more…

This is a guest blog post by Carol Harvey, director of nutrition labeling at Palate Works. She recently visited the San Francisco Fancy Food Show.

For 35 years, the Fancy Food Show has been the trade show of all things tasty, gourmet and upscale. Many food products are launched there, including an increasing number dished up as “healthy” or “better for you,” due to evolving consumer demand.

In fact, the “top 5 food trends” for 2010 just announced by NASFT (the trade association that produces the show) include “good-for-you foods”. This “trend,” brewing for most of the 20 years that I have been attending the show, has proven a smart business move for a number of brands.

Whether any of the 100,000+ exhibited products really nailed the “taste + nutrition” prize was my focus again this year in San Francisco. And once again, how a company uses nutrition claims separated those that know their nutrition and labeling from those that don’t. Here are three examples. Read more…

Following up on New York City’s Health Department subway poster campaign this summer, they’re at it again. This time there’s new and rather gross youtube clip depicting a young man drinking fat out of a soft drink can. An “in-your-face” message, but drastic measures are required to get people’s weight back in check. True, there’s not one reason or one bad product causing America to balloon. Many dietitians advise their clients to cut sugary drinks as the easiest and most effective way to start losing weight.

What to do at the supermarket:

You’ll save not only weight, but also $500 for a family of 4 just by switching to tap water. Go for it!

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This is a guest post by Lisa Cain, PhD, a.k.a Snack-Girl.

We all love to snack. And we love convenience too. Unfortunately that comes with a price – unhealthy additives meant to preserve packaged pastry for months, artificial and cheap ingredients, and unreasonable amounts of sugar, sodium and fat.

I write about about healthy snacks made with real food.  Here are 5 of my junk food “makeovers”.  The idea is to eat something nutritious and delicious without breaking your wallet. You will have to invest a few minutes in the kitchen though…

1. Great tasting banana bread. Low in sugar and butter free. The key is that the bananas are sweet so you don’t have to add a lot of sugar to make it taste really great, and you use buttermilk which is a great low calorie substitute for butter.

2. Quick and healthy pizza. Here is a really simple suggestion to satisfy a pizza craving and it is an excellent snack size serving.

3. Homemade energy bars (less calories and no packaging). For the price of a bag of flour, oats, and raisins, you can have 24 bars for about the cost of 2 packaged energy bars. Is this savings worth your time? If you make $100 an hour, probably not, but the rest of us could use the money.

4. Homemade microwave popcorn – You CAN make popcorn in the microwave without the prepackaged products from the supermarket. All you need is popcorn, lunch bags, tape, and some flavorings.

5. Yogurt dip with much less fat – a yogurt and dill dip that is truly tasty and has very little calories. The secret is a substitute of the fat filled sour cream that goes into regular dip – Greek Yogurt. It has a thicker consistency than regular yogurt which makes it feel and taste more luxurious.

Lisa Cain, Ph.D., is an avid snacker, foodie, published author, and mother of 2. An evolutionary biologist by training, she has become obsessed with how food contributes to our overall health. Check out snack girl for other healthy snack ideas.

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The most popular kids TV Network, Nickelodeon, should be ashamed of itself, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer watchdog group, in its latest expose. The reason: Most of the ads running on the network are for food products that promote obesity, diabetes, and other health problems in young children.

This is especially irritating because the industry set up a self-regulatory body with the Better Business Bureau – the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) – several years ago. Once again, this goes to show that you can’t have the cat watching over the cream. Just as with the ill-fated Smart Choice Program, the nutrition benchmarks that this group have set are – how shall we say – very lenient.

CSPI evaluated the nutritional quality based on the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity’s (NANA) Model
School Wellness Policies on Physical Activity and Nutrition. It’s a standard supported by over 50 health, nutrition, and education organizations.

Here are some findings:

• Of 425 foods and beverages that were advertised, 267 (60%) were sub par nutritionally (too much sugar, salt or fat, for example).
• 25% of the products had excess sugar.
• None of Pepsico’s 10 products met the nutritional minimum.
• The only bright spot – the figures are slightly better than 4 years ago, when 90% of commercials were for junk food.

You can download the full report here (PDF)

What to do at the supermarket:

My mother recently reminded me how as a 7 year old tagging along on her grocery shopping trips I would pick up a box of cereal I had seen on Saturday Morning cartoons. In a serious tone I would tell her “We need to buy this, mom.” and then add “They said on TV that it’s good for you.” Most often, the box would find itself back on the supermarket shelf.

Luckily, in retrospect, my parents had good sense. And I hope you do too. Teach your children at an early age to read critically, to look for products with good values in nutrition labels. In breakfast cereal for example, sugar should be below 8 grams per serving, and fiber higher than 3 grams. By getting your children involved in the nutrition hunt, they will be more apt to choose better products together with you.

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Over the weekend Congress (barely) passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act, or H.R. 3962. And while much media attention went to the abortion clauses that were put in / taken out, there were also several food and nutrition related provisions added to the new legislation.

Section 2572 [NUTRITION LABELING OF STANDARD MENU ITEMS AT CHAIN RESTAURANTS AND OF ARTICLES OF FOOD SOLD FROM VENDING MACHINES] will require 2 things:

1. Any operator of 20 or more vending machines will now be required to label the calorie count for each of the items on sale:

the vending machine operator shall provide a sign in close proximity to each article of food or the selection button that includes a clear and conspicuous statement disclosing the number of calories contained in the article

This is great, because it will help people snack a bit more mindfully. Especially important is the labeling of soft drinks and juices. Consumers pick up a vitamin water and are sometimes surprised when they’re told it contains 8 teaspoons of sugar and 130 calories!

2. Restaurant chains with national presence of 20 or more locales will now have to post calorie information as well. The information has to appear on menus as well as on the menu board and drive in menu board where applicable.

There have been calorie labeling efforts in several cities and states across the country in the past 2 years, but now they’ll all come under a single roof.

While calories are a great start, they certainly don’t tell the whole story of a product, so the bill further states that upon request, customers shall also be informed about level of nutrients such as  fat, sodium, and cholesterol.

That’s nice in theory, but you can just imagine a scene where Fred is standing in line at a busy BK, trying to decide whether to go for a cheeseburger or whopper, and asking the Jack the cashier for the saturated fat content of each. While Jack is scratching his head and calling the shift manager who vaguely remembers some brochure buried in the stock room, the line behind Fred gets longer and more restless….

The National Restaurant Association supports the new menu requirement, and with good reason. Better have one single rule, than have each state or municipality come up with its own requirements, as California did.

We would have liked to see more sweeping legislation connected to food and nutrition in this bill. After all, much of our health problems are directly related to poor eating habits. But this will have to wait for another time.

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A new force in the battle against obesity, this time from an unexpected source: the food industry.
The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, announced on Monday, is a consortium of forty manufacturers, retailers, and several non-profit organizations whose aim is to reduce obesity rates, especially in children, by 2015.

The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation will promote the concept of energy balance — balancing calories consumed as part of a healthy diet with calories expended by physical activity — to people in the places where they spend much of their time: to consumers in the marketplace, to employees through workplace programs and to children in schools.

Among the coalition members are Mars Inc., Kellogg Company, General Mills, The Hershey Company, and The Coca Cola Company. Yes, the purveyors of Oreos, Pop-tarts, Snickers, and liquid candies called soda pop, are going to help us battle obesity.

This is great news right?
Not really. The focus of this group is on increasing exercise, not decreasing consumption. Heaven forbid if sales should falter or even stay flat. These are all public companies that need to grow-grow-grow their bottom lines each quarter. In parallel, so grow our bottoms:

The coalition has pledged $20 million to the don’t-necessarily-eat-less-but-definitely-exercise-more effort. As one skeptical consumer commented on a CBC News website: “$20M doesn’t seem like very much for these huge companies. What is that, like 6 Super Bowl commercials?” Read more…

While on a personal level we’re sure each and every one of the people working for these corporations wants to see a slimmer, healthier country, the truth is that this collides with their business interest. As long as nutritiously poor products are shoved into our face, we’ll keep eating them, the companies will get richer, and as a country we’ll become even more obese.

Dear coalition companies, if you truly want to reduce obesity rates, please do as follows:

1. Clearly state the TRUE portion size of a snack, and the TOTAL calorie count for that portion. Eleven chips are not a real serving size. Nor are 3 Oreo cookies.
2. Kill all advertising, commercials, web sites, superhero tie-ins, and other marketing activities aimed at anyone under 16 years of age.
3. Reduce package sizes of single serve items – such as Coke bottles. A 20 fl oz of Coke purchased by a child is consumed as one serving not the 2.5 servings displayed on the package.
4. Stop creating more and more line-extensions of winning junk brands and focus on creating healthy foods. There are hundreds of Oreo branded products. Why not create a new healthy brand snack that will become the Oreo of the 21st century?
5. Contribute more than a measly $20 million for obesity related efforts. This paltry sum is less than one percent of what you spend on advertising your products.
6. You’re no fitness experts, so don’t tell us to exercise more. Show us how to eat less. Especially less of your high fat, high sugar, high sodium products. Studies have shown that people today are exercising just as much as they did 30 years ago. It’s the calories in that have gone up, not calories out that diminished.
7. And lastly, please do away with all those silly health claims on product packages.

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