The new label not only lists the grams of added sugar, but it also shows the percentage of calories those added sugars make up based on a 2,000 calorie diet. People who want make healthier food choices will really benefit from the more prominent display of calories and updated information about serving sizes that more accurately reflects what people are likely to eat in one serving.
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Multi-serving foods that “can reasonably be consumed at one eating occasion” – like a pint of ice cream – will have two columns: one with information for a single serving from that package, and one for the entire package. A 20-ounce soda is now 1 serving instead of 2.
“It’s no accident that fast-food places are now serving apples and skim milk in their kids’ meals, or that food and beverage companies – including many in the room here today – have cut 6.4 trillion calories from their products and are racing to stock grocery shelves with healthier options”, she said.
Declaration of grams and a percent daily value for “added sugars” to help consumer know how much sugar has been added to a product. For example, the new Nutrition Facts label includes the addition of information about added sugars. Vitamin D and potassium will no longer be optional because Americans tend to not get enough of them.
FDA also is making minor changes to the Supplement Facts label found on dietary supplements to make it consistent with the Nutrition Facts label. The FDA’s final nutrition rules will ensure that consumers are empowered with the guidance they need to make healthier, more informed food choices that can reduce their risk for heart disease and stroke.
In addition, it is hard to meet nutrient needs while staying within calorie requirements if you consume more than 10 percent of your total daily calories from added sugars. The most high-profile change, however, will be over added sugars, the sugars and syrups added to foods by companies when they are processed (i.e. not natural cane sugar).
Some of the most important changes-all of which must be implemented by late July 2018, with smaller manufacturers getting an additional year’s extension-deal with the way calorie counts are displayed. This change, FDA officials have said, reflects the country’s growing obesity epidemic. Soft drink and candy makers, whose products are considered among the main sources of added sugar in our diets, have also made pledges in recent years to lower their sweet factor. Less than a year later, the FDA has announced that it will be updating the label’s design to be more visible to modern consumers.
This is not about telling people what they should eat.
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The agency has also chose to remove the “calories from fat” column from the new labels stating that the type of fat is more important than knowing the total amount of calories associated with the fats.
