The Problem With Nutrition Labels

Why does it feel like you need a Ph.D to be able to understand today's nutrition labels?

In a previous blogpost entitled, Candy Corn: Please Consume Responsibly, I discussed who was responsible for the health of society. On one side the consumer is responsible for their own health because they have free will to choose what they put into their bodies. And on the other side, food manufacturing companies have an obligation to create food that will increase consumers' well-being or at least effectively communicate what is in its products. Here lies the issue with nutrition labels. Food companies use nutrition labels to communicate product ingredients, so consumers can make a seemingly educated decision to consume a product or not. Unfortunately nutrition labels are confusing to the average consumer. Complex names and measurements hide the truth behind the product's ingredients and nutritional content.

There are several elements to nutrition labels that lead to confusion, most notably the number of calories, serving size, and ingredients. Many nutrition labels list the number of calories in a serving, as well as, list the calories from fat. Aren't all calories the same? Does this imply that fat calories are worse for you?  What does this really mean for my health? A measurement like this leads consumers to question its meaning. The nutrition label does a poor job of describing why fat calories are separate from total calories. Another issue in understanding the calories measurement, is knowing if it is considered small, average, or large. Most nutrition labels indicate that calories are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Since many people have different caloric needs it is difficult to define if the number of calories in a product is acceptable for one's dietary needs.

Serving size is also a misleading component of nutrition labels. Often times the serving size is measured in such a way that the consumer can't even conceptualize what it means in terms of how much to eat of a product, especially since products come in bigger quantities than they are supposed to consume. I found four food products in my house that all have misleading serving sizes. Let's take a look at each one and determine how it is misleading.

1. Spaghetti Noodles

Spaghetti noodles come uncooked and in a relatively small box. What I have always found confusing about spaghetti noodles is that when you cook a small amount of dried noodles and it turns into a massive helping of cooked noodles. The serving size on the package is 2 ounces. Let me just pull out the scale I keep in the kitchen to measure that out. Oh wait! I don't have a scale to measure food. How am I supposed to know what 2 ounces of dried noodles is supposed to look like? Let's say I make spaghetti to feed my whole household. How am I going to know what 2 ounces of dried noodles look like when they are fully cooked? The real issue here is that the serving size for spaghetti is presented in weight of dried noodles. People don't eat uncooked spaghetti or typically have scales to weigh out food in their kitchens.


2. Doritos Nacho Cheese Chips
I believe that very few people actually read the nutrition labels on chip bags. When people consume chips they will eat handful after handful until they are satisfied. The serving size for Doritos is only 11 chips. That seems like too few if Doritos are supposed to be one's afternoon snack. The good thing about this serving size is that it is measured in chips not ounces, so it is easier for the consumer to conceptualize. The issue is that it is so small that very few people will only eat 11 chips when they have access to the whole bag. Would it be better for consumers if snack size Dorito chip bags that only contain 11 chips were sold?




3. Popcorn

You would think one serving of popcorn would be the whole pre-measured bag that it is microwaved in. Wrong, the serving size of popcorn is 3 tablespoons of uncooked kernels. This is especially difficult for consumers to conceptualize because they never see the uncooked kernels because they are hidden in the microwaveable bag. How is the consumer supposed to know how much 3 tablespoons of uncooked kernels looks like when cooked? Again, consumers cannot actually gauge what healthy consumption of popcorn is.



4. Poptarts
Poptarts are my own personal weakness. The worst part is that I know they are pretty bad for me, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying a strawberry Poptart from time to time. The serving size for Poptarts is 1 pastry. Since Poptarts are consumed as whole pastries this serving size is pretty easy to understand. The main issue with this serving size is that Poptarts are wrapped in packages of 2. Is a consumer really supposed to open a package and only eat one while the other becomes stale from sitting in an open package? If Kellogg really wanted to help consumers they would package each Poptart individually, eliminating the temptation to eat both in one sitting.

How are people supposed to make educated food product decisions when they don't understand what the calories measurements or serving sizes mean for their health? Misleading calorie measurements and serving sizes often lead to over consumption of products, thereby damaging the health of consumers.

Another big source of confusion for consumers is product ingredients. Using hard to pronounce and obscure names for ingredients, food companies have been able to hide what is in products from unknowing consumers. Here is the ingredient list for my beloved strawberry Poptarts. Words such as enriched flour, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, soy lecithin, and Red 40 provide me with no real insight into what makes up a Poptart. These ingredients are also common in other food products. Let's take a look at what they really are.

Enriched flour is confusing because the consumer might not understand why flour needs to be enriched and what exactly it has been enriched with. A quick Google search revealed that companies enrich flour to restore it with nutrients that were lost while it was processed. Flour is often enriched with iron and B vitamins. Three B vitamins that flour is enriched with are niacin, riboflavin, and folic acid. These 3 B vitamins have intimidating names that make them sound like they are harmful to consumer health. In reality, these B vitamins promote good health in consumers by aiding in the creation of new cells within the body.

Soy lecithin is liquid extracted from cottonseed, marine sources, milk, rapeseed, soybeans, and sunflower to help mix oils within food products.  Though approved by the FDA, soy lecithin has been known to cause side effects such as bloating, diarrhea, mild skin rashes, nausea, and stomach pain. That doesn't sound like an ingredient that I want hidden in food products.

Red 40 is the most common artificial food coloring used today. Its actual name is Allura Red, making it sound almost seductive. This FDA certified food coloring comes from petroleum distillates or coal tar. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Red 40 can cause allergic reactions, hyperactivity in children, and immune system tumors in mice. Red 40 also contains p-Cresidine, which is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. This seems like a pretty nasty chemical to be putting into our food.

Consumers need to be educated on what they are putting into their bodies. Nutrition labels are a great first step toward informing consumers, yet there is room for improvement. All nutrition measurements and ingredients need to be easier for consumers to understand. If we want consumers to be more responsible for their own health, then food companies need to be transparent about what is in the food product offerings.