Nutrition labels weren’t required on packaged foods in the United States until the 1990s. Now they are a familiar sight that many of us take for granted — or even ignore.
Do you pay attention to nutrition labels on food? Does knowing nutritional information help you make healthier eating choices?
In “New F.D.A. Nutrition Labels Would Make ‘Serving Sizes’ Reflect Actual Servings,” Sabrina Tavernise writes:
The Food and Drug Administration for the first time in two decades will propose major changes to nutrition labels on food packages, putting calorie counts in large type and adjusting portion sizes to reflect how much Americans actually eat.
It would be the first significant redrawing of the nutrition information on food labels since the federal government started requiring them in the early 1990s. Those labels were based on eating habits and nutrition data from the 1970s and ’80s, before portion sizes expanded significantly, and federal health officials argued that the changes were needed to bring labels into step with the reality of the modern American diet.
“It’s an amazing transformation,” said Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, commissioner of the F.D.A. “Things like the size of a muffin have changed so dramatically. It is important that the information on the nutrition fact labels reflect the realities in the world today.”
The proposed changes include what experts say will be a particularly controversial item: a separate line for sugars that are manufactured and added to food, substances that many public health experts say have contributed substantially to the obesity problem in this country. The food industry has argued against similar suggestions in the past.
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …
— Do you pay attention to nutrition labels on food? Does knowing nutritional information help you make healthier eating choices?
— How careful are you about what you eat? Do you watch your calories, fat intake or carbohydrates? Do you read ingredient lists?
— Do you seek out special foods, like those with organic, reduced-fat or gluten-free labels? Or avoid others, like those made with hydrogenated oils or trans fats?
— Would you support a new requirement to get restaurants and movie theaters to put calorie counts on menus?
— Look at the two labels above. Do you like the proposed redesign or the current version better? Why?
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