Everywhere I turn these days people are discussing food labels. The FDA recently toyed with the ideas of defining what foods should or shouldn't be labeled as "natural", numerous organizations are still pushing for mandatory GMO labeling, and one poll even showed that 80% of Americans believe that foods containing DNA should be labeled. In the midst of all of this debate about such arbitrary labels, one labeling change has been made official, and will be hitting our shelves soon. The change I am writing about here is the revamped nutrition information label required on all food sold in the US.
Overall, the new design is nothing too alarming. The two major changes are that the 'calories per serving' number will be noticeably larger and bolded, and beneath the 'sugar' line there will be a new line listing the total number of 'added sugars'. At first glance the second change noted above seems like nothing more than a friendly reminder to keep track of your sugar intake. However, when viewed in the context of the aforementioned labeling debates, it seems to be more of a win for the fear-mongering 'natural' and 'organic' marketers than a win for the American public.
My two biggest concerns regarding the 'added sugars' line come from the lack of knowledge most people have about sugar, and the misguided demonization of sugar by food-bloggers such as the "Food Babe", Vani Hari. What's worse is that misinformation is rather abundant online, and more and more people are resorting to the internet to confirm what they already believe (right or wrong) about health and nutrition.
'Added sugar' has become a buzzword for the all-natural crowd. Arguments against added sugar hinge on the premise that added sugar is somehow absorbed differently by the body, and this difference in absorption is directly related to increased incidences of obesity and type II diabetes. Though no evidence has been found directly tying added sugar specifically to either one of these diseases, an overall increase of sugar consumption in general is widely understood as a contributing factor to both (this link is abundantly clear in the case of type II diabetes, and although sugar may not be the only contributing factor to obesity, it certainly is a component).
Too much sugar - either naturally occurring or added by a manufacturer - is not good, and the CDC has recommended that Americans keep their percentage of calories from sugar at or below 10%. Unfortunately, the problem I've run in to numerous times online is that this 10% limit is often cited as pertaining only to added sugars, leaving the limit for sugar in general up to interpretation by readers. By singling out added sugars on nutrition labels, shoppers may be inclined to ignore the total sugar content of any given product, and over-consume foods loaded with still unhealthy amounts of natural sugar, all because they feel good about the fact that at least they're not taking in those evil 'added sugars'.
This problem could easily be exacerbated when manufacturers look for loopholes, such as simply replacing added sugars with other ingredients high in naturally occurring sugars, and thus are able to continue producing sweet tasting foods with little change to the overall sugar and calorie content. By making virtually no change to the end product, manufacturers will still find a way to slap a "no added sugars" label on their package and entice consumers to choose their seemingly 'healthier' option over their competitors.
But the biggest problem here is that by including the 'added sugars' on the nutrition information label, you are implying to consumers that the added sugar is somehow different than the naturally occurring sugars. This is right in line with the arguments for labeling foods containing GMOs, where there is no real difference to the consumer, but the labeling acts as a way to stigmatize certain products. Yet, in the end, sugar is sugar. One gram of sugar (or any carb) is four calories, regardless of its source. All sugars are processed in the body much quicker than other complex carbs, and excess consumption coupled with lack of exercise can lead to weight gain and diabetes. But sugar is also a necessary nutrient for healthy brain and nervous system funtion. It would be much more beneficial to stick to the original labels, and focus efforts on better nutrition education in general to combat the plethora of misinformation available through popular media.
