A New “Nutrition Facts” Label Is On The Way
What You Need To Know Most About The Changes
July 26, 2018
That is when you will begin seeing the label above displayed on every packaged food item in your grocery store.
This is major news for both food manufacturers and consumers as this is the first redesign the Nutrition Facts label has seen in it’s 24 year history. The changes made have been implemented to more accurately reflect the amount of foods we eat, emphasize critical nutritional information that may have previously being overlooked, and include nutrients more relevant to today’s consumer; you.
While the full list of changes can be found by tapping or clicking here, I want to highlight the biggest standout changes that mattered most to me that I also think will matter most to you.
Food Serving Gets A Reality Check
When the current label and recommendations were created in 1993, they were made to reflect the amount of a particular food that people would eat in a single serving. This became the standard serving size you see displayed on the Nutrition Fact label of each kind of food.
For example, the current serving size for ice cream, set in 1993 when the label was established, is listed as 1/2 cup. Americans’ eating habits have changed drastically over the last quarter-century resulting in bigger portions.
Under the new label recommendations, the serving size listed on ice cream labels will be 2/3 cup — a more accurate representation of how much ice cream we typically consume today.
This is a critical update because under the current label we are shown serving sizes that do not reflect how much we are actually eating and as a result we may be underestimating how many calories or carbs we’re getting. This is a major influencer in weight gain.
For example, the current serving size for beverages is 80z. That may have been an accurate representation of how much we drank in one sitting back in 1993, but today that serving size is much bigger — 40z bigger to be exact.
So when the label accounts for an 80z serving when we’re really pouring closer to 12oz, mentally we associate what we’re consuming with what we saw on the label. Updating the serving sizes may just be what many need to step back and reexamine just how much they’re eating.
No More Two-For-Ones
Package size affects what people eat. So for packages that are between one and two servings, such as a 20 ounce soda or a 15-ounce can of soup, the calories and other nutrients will be required to be labeled as one serving because people typically consume it in one sitting. — FDA
Because honestly, who drinks 80z of a 20oz soda and saves it for later?
Nobody, that’s who.
Soda companies have been doing this on their own for years. Most 20oz bottles of soda list serving sizes as “1 Bottle” rather than the traditional 8oz.
However, this is still important because it makes it easier for the consumer to err on the side of caution by rounding up rather than down to the nearest serving size when consuming a product with tricky serving sizes.
Sugar Is Now In The Spotlight
Added sugars are now featured in grams per serving. They’ve also been given a % Daily Value!
This is MAJOR! Since the inception of the Nutrition Facts label, sugar has never been held accountable with a % Daily Value. For decades, consumers have had nothing to compare a product’s sugar content against except for other products with sugar.
I’ve been using the sugar content of a can of Coke (39g) as a measuring stick to compare other products against. The lower I could get from those 39g the better.
Now by looking at the label of any food product we can see how its added sugar content compares to the amount of added sugar we are suggested to consume per day.
Oh, by the way, added sugars are now a thing.
Added sugars are sugars that are added during the processing of foods. Displaying how much added sugar is in a food product educates the consumer on how much sugar is being added to food products and allows them to decipher how much sugar is naturally occurring sugar by simply subtracting the amount of added sugars from the total sugar amount.
Being able to distinguish between how much sugar is naturally occurring in our food and how much is being added during processing is a powerful tool in helping people understand the processing that goes into certain foods and provides a strong influence to reduce their consumption of these foods.
The Final Product — What You’ll See In Your Grocery Store
The first thing that grabs you upon first examination of the current and new label is the difference in font size of the “Serving Size” and “Calories” and their numbers. This places greater emphasis on what the consumer is about to consume.
“Calories from fat” has been removed as research suggests that the types of fats eaten is more important than how much fat is eaten.
Vitamins A and C are no longer required and are replaced by Vitamin D and Potassium. This is because the American diet today does not lack vitamins A and C like they did when the label guidelines were first created.
Final Thoughts
I’m excited to see these changes come to reality next year. Calories and serving sizes are given extra emphasis with font size changes. Serving sizes are being updated to reflect today’s consumer, not one from 1993. The new “Added Sugars” section should persuade more people to pay closer attention to their sugar intake which is an enormous problem today.
Overall these changes not only seem sound and reasonable, but probable to influence change for the better.
What do YOU think about the new label changes? Is there something else you’d like to see added? Removed? Updated? Any thoughts you have PLEASE comment and let’s discuss!
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About The Author: I’m Zach Newman. I’m an ACE Certified Personal Trainer. Conversation is insanely important to me. Its why I love creating things because creation sparks discussion and discussion is the best way to learn from each other. Whether its about fitness and health, what books to read, or what’s going on in the world today, my goal is to build the best community around conversations that better the lives of everyone involved.
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