Nutrition labels are now available on 40 cuts of meat at your local grocer’s. The USDA mandated labeling came into effect this week, almost 20 years after the FDA mandated nutrition label appeared on packaged foods. There is no need for an ingredient list, as the product is itself a single ingredient.
This is a good thing for several reasons:
1. Serving size – we sometimes forget that the single most important factor in weight management is portion control. In the picture above we see that the serving size is 4 oz. That’s probably a lot less than many people actually consume. The calories on the label reflect a single serving. If you plan to eat more, the calories (and the nutrient values) need to be adjusted accordingly.
2. Saturated fat – you can see that even a “lean” cut of meat contains one third of your daily max for saturated fats. (Cholesterol is also high, but for most people the cholesterol in food is not translated to cholesterol in the blood. It’s the saturated fat that raises bad cholesterol levels (LDL).
3. Protein – meats are a great source of protein. In the example above, just 4 ounces give you 21 grams (25-35% of your required daily value). Most Americans get more than enough of their protein needs. As you can see, protein is not a difficult nutrient to consume.
Have you seen the new nutrition labels on meats? What do you think?
Everyone knows smoking is bad for health. It causes cancer and heart disease to name a few maladies. Everyone can tell you that. If you’re a smoker, you should quit.
But if you are having a hard time and you can’t quite stop, there are a few things you should know so you can to counteract the negative effects of you addiction.
Smoking and Cholesterol
The nicotine in cigarettes increases LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and decreases HDL cholesterol (the good) in your bloodstream. Diet also has a big impact on your cholesterol levels, so if you are a smoker, you need to be doubly careful about your intake of saturated fats and trans-fats.
Smoking and Bone health
Studies over the last few decades have shown that smokers have a lower bone density and higher risk for osteoporosis. The exact chemistry has yet to be explained. If you’re a smoker – make sure you get enough calcium in your diet..
Smoking and Vitamin C
Smoking literally sucks the vitamin C from your body’s tissues.Whereas vitamin C is an antioxidant, the chemicals in cigarette smoke are oxidants. So vitamin C, instead of bonding with free radicals in the body and removing them, bonds with the chemicals from the smoke. Smokers therefore need a much higher level of vitamin C and in general much more antioxidants in their body. So if you’re a pack a day person – make sure you’re getting ample fruits and vegetables in your diet as well.
Smoking and Weight Loss
Nicotine has been shown to be an appetite suppressant, but if you think smoking is the way to stay thin, you’re thinking very short term. The damage you are doing to your body by smoking far outweighs the few pounds not gained.
To summarize, quit smoking ASAP. Until you do, be on top of your game nutritionally.
Here’ a question we got from Lillie, a Fooducate community member
Can you help me and your other readers understand how it is that shrimp have no fat, but lots of cholesterol? Why don’t they have fat, if they are a living animal?
Great questions.
What you need to know:
We’ll start with the second question. Shrimp actually does have fat, but a very small amount of it. A 3 oz serving has just 1 gram of fat, none of it saturated. Compare that to the same serving of salmon with 11 grams of fat, or beef with 15-25 grams for a comparable portion. But smaller fish such as sardines also have just 3 grams of fat.
Regarding cholesterol – a quick reminder – cholesterol is a waxy substance found only in animal organisms, not plants. It is a lipid, or a fat, in plain English. But it’s weight is measured in milligrams (a thousandth of a gram) compared to “regular fat” that we measure in grams.
Cholesterol levels in shrimp are high, about 150mg per 3oz serving, which is 50% of the daily max. (Math: 150mg of cholesterol is still just 15% of the 1 gram of fat in a serving of shrimp)
If you are worried about cholesterol, the good news is that the cholesterol in food, including shrimp, does not directly translate to high blood cholesterol. It’s saturated fat that raises our levels of blood cholesterol.
That’s not to say the cholesterol in food doesn’t have any effect on our metabolism, but for most healthy adults, the cholesterol in shrimp should not be of concern.
By the way, shrimp is an excellent source of protein, Omega-3 fatty acids, selenium, vitamin D and vitamin B12.
There’s a consensus among the nutrition community that people should be eating less meat and more fish. For most people, this means salmon or canned tuna. These are indeed very popular and nutritious choices.
However there are several problems with tuna and salmon. Both are very large fish that take several years to mature, during which their bodies absorb mercury and PCBs. These poisons have doctors and nutritionists advising limits on weekly consumption of big fish, especially for children and pregnant women.
They are also starting to disappear from the oceans as world demand has grown so much in the past 50 years.
Enter sardines, an entire section of canned goodness that we often skip while grocery shopping. Too bad. These under-appreciated cousins of herring, are a wonderful nutrition source.
What you need to know:
Sardines are a small type of fish, also known as pilchards. They are usually less than 15 cm in length. They have soft bones and can be eaten whole without fear of choking. While we normally eat them canned, in the Mediterranean they are also served grilled or smoked.
Due to their small size and diet consisting of plankton, sardines do not accumulate heavy metals in their bodies like the big fish do. There is also no fear of stock depletion any time soon.
Nutritionally , sardines are a hit:
- They are rich in omega 3 fatty acids
- Their fat content is mostly unsaturated
- They are high in vitamin D, and elusive vitamin for many people
- They are very high in vitamin B12
- They are protein rich – a can of sardines contains almost half the daily value of protein
- Those soft bones are full of calcium, and you can get a third of the daily value just from one can.
On the downside, canned sardines tend to be high in sodium (20% of the daily value) and high in cholesterol (should only concern people with serious blood cholesterol issues though).
What to do at the supermarket:
You’ll most likely buy canned sardines packed in oil. While the oil is fine and dandy for preserving the fish, you don’t need it. Use paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Squeeze a lemon over the sardines for added flavor.
“Proven to Lower Cholesterol” is a mighty strong claim. But Corazonas, a brand built around heart health, places this health claim front and center.
How can one product, such as this oatmeal square, help to reduce cholesterol?
What you need to know:
According to Corazonas’s website (and NOT on the product package) the cholesterol reducing claim is approved by the FDA:
*FDA health claim: Foods containing at least 0.4g per serving of plant sterols, eaten twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 0.8g, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. A serving of Corazonas supplies between 0.4g and 0.8g of plant sterols. See nutrition facts panel for fat content.
OK – so you need to eat well all around for this cholesterol lowering effect to kick in. But what about the 2.5 teaspoons of added sugar (second and third ingredients in the list below). Do they contribute to heart health?
Note the plant sterols or phytosterols. These are naturally found in plant oils. In studies where the phytosterols were extracted from plants and turned into supplements, they have been shown to reduce cholesterol absorption in the intestines. But other studies showed opposite effects.
As with all compounds found in nature, science still does not have a full grasp on all the interactions between various chemicals in a whole food as compared to a single vitamin or mineral. That’s why you should be very wary of claims that a single nutrient found in a processed food product can do wonders for you. Your best bet is to get your sterols from real food – fruit and vegetables.
Bars such as this, which are a collection of sugar ingredients, protein isolates, and a sprinkling of vitamin blend are the exact opposite of what you need. And yet, this Corazonas is still one of the better bars out there, because it does not use partially hydrogenated oils, and includes peanuts and dates.
What to do at the supermarket:
When choosing bars, remember that they are closer to snack bar than health food. Choose bars made with real fruit and nuts, and short ingredient lists.
The American Heart Association’s Circulation Magazine just published a report which concludes with something everyone already knows:
Consumption of added sugars among US adolescents is positivelyassociated with multiple measures known to increase cardiovasculardisease risk. read more…
Researchers from the CDC and Atlanta’s Emory University studied thousands of teens’ sugar consumption rates over the course of five years and correlated that to incidence of coronary disease and its predictors. They discovered that
The average teen consumes 28 teaspoons of added sugar per day. That’s almost 500 calories worth!
Those consuming the most sugar (30% or more of total calories) had almost 10% more bad blood cholesterol and 10% less good cholesterol than those who ate the least added sugar (less than 10% of total calories).
Overweight and obese teens who ate the most sugar also had the most insulin resistance.
What you need to know:
Is anyone really surprised? The food industry (and any industry, actually) loves teens. They are impressionable and can be converted to loyal lifetime customers. And they have their own money to spend, in many cases.
So where does the added sugar come from? The study didn’t go into those details, but we all know that soda pop plays a big factor. A standard vending machine bottle of Coke has 20 fl oz of drink, to consumed by one person. It has 240 calories, or roughly 15 teaspoons of sugar in it! Drink two of those a day, and you’re all set…
Of course there are tons of other sugar sources out there as well – breakfast cereals, snacks, energy bars, etc…
What to do at the supermarket:
If you are a teen and reading this – kudos! It’s never too early too start taking an interest in nutrition. The quickest and most effective way for you to slash you sugar intake is by going cold turkey on all beverages. From now on – only tap water.
We’re big on eggs here at Fooducate. They are a cheap and reliable source of protein, especially for meat avoiders. They are one of few foods naturally containing vitamin D and they are also a good source of vitamin A, riboflavin, folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, choline, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium.
Due to their high cholesterol count (over 65% of the recommended daily intake) Eggs lost favor with consumers in the past decades. But current studies are pointing favorably to the egg, stating that most of the cholesterol formed in the human body results from saturated and trans-fats, and not the cholesterol in the egg.
Eggs have no trans-fat and only 8% of the daily value for saturated fat.
So you’ve decided to purchase some eggs. But there are so many options and labels. How do you know what to choose?
As in many products, the label includes many marketing messages, but not all of them have actual standing in facts. Here are some pointers.
What you need to know:
Omega-3 Enriched / Enhanced – the hens were fed either fish oil or flaxseed and passed the omega 3 second hand to you. Keep in mind that Omega-3 eggs are unregulated, so you don’t know how much omega-3 you’re actually getting.
Natural, Naturally Raised - unregulated, means nothing.
No Hormones, No Antibiotics – unregulated, means nothing.
Certified Organic - the hens are fed an organic, all-vegetarian diet free of antibiotics and pesticides. They are uncaged, “residing” inside barns or warehouses, and are required to have outdoor access, but the amount, duration, and quality of outdoor access is undefined. They may also be starved and de-beaked.
There is quite a riff now in the organic egg industry between the small family farms and the more industrialized organic egg facilities, who some believe have strayed from the true meaning of organic.
See the video below to understand (thanks, Mike)
Free range – There is no USDA standard for “free-range” egg production. Typically,free-range hens are uncaged inside barns or warehouses and have some degree of outdoor access, but there are no requirements for the amount, duration or quality of outdoor access.
Cage free / Free run – even less promising than free range because no degree of outdoor access is implied.
Certified Humane - Chickens not in cages but inside barns or warehouses. Access to the outdoors not a must. Certain requirements must be met, for example, the chickens are able to perform natural behaviors.
Animal Welfare Approved – The highest animal welfare standards of any third-party auditing program. Cage-free environments with access to outdoor pasture. They are able to move freely, socialize, and engage in natural, health-promoting behaviors. Beak trimming and forced molting are prohibited. Unfortunately, there are no participating producers that sell to supermarkets.
One last note – there is no difference nutritionally or otherwise between brown eggs and white eggs. The eggshell color is determined by the chicken type.
United Egg Producers – no special meaning, aside the fact that the hens are fed and given water. The majority of factory farms with tens of thousands of hens comply with this program.
What to do at the supermarket:
The ethics and morality of what animal derived food to eat is a very touchy subject matter, and beyond the scope of this blog. We wanted to present the information we collected and let each family make its decision based on taste, nutrition, price, and environmental/ethical considerations.
One last thing – if you’ve never tasted eggs from a local family farm where the hens truly are free in the range, you don’t know what you’re missing. Out of this world. Treat yourself to a dozen and taste for yourself.
Odwalla, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Coca Cola Company, has been making juices, smoothies, and food bars since the mid 1980′s. A company representative reached out to us a few weeks ago regarding a new product with the very promising name you see in the title of this blog post.
We had samples sent to loyal fooducate community member Susan and her family, while we tried to figure out this plant sterol business. Here is what Susan had to say:
My husband was excited to see “heart health” on the label. He’s been battling high cholesterol for over 20 years.
The back label of this Odwalla Heart Health beverage has a serious little black box stating:
“PLANT STEROLS & HEART DISEASE: foods containing at least 0.4g per serving of plant sterols, consumed twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 0.8g, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. A serving of Odwalla Heart Health contains 0.4 grams of plant sterols. One bottle of Owdalla Heart Health contains 0.8g of plant sterols.”
Wowee. All my hubby has to do is guzzle one bottle of this stuff a day and he “may reduce his risk of heart disease”. Sounds easy, right?
Unfortunately, no one in my family could find a way to actually drink an entire bottle.
It was too thick. Too gooey.
Hubby thinned it out with water, but still was unable to drink an entire bottle of the heart healthy beverage. One of my daughters poured some into a fancy plastic wine glass but only took a few sips. She said it was too dense to drink.
As for me, just looking at the myriad of ingredients, 13 in all, did not make me thirsty:
APPLE JUICE, PEACH PUREE, BANANA PUREE, STRAWBERRY PUREE, BOYSENBERRY PUREE, PLUM PUREE, LESS THAN 2% OF WATER, CONCORD GRAPE JUICE, PINEAPPLE JUICE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, PLANT STEROLS, VEGETABLE AND BERRY EXTRACTS (PURPLE CARROT, BLACK CARROT AND LINGONBERRY) AND CITRUS PULP.
Most of the ingredients I could pronounce and recognize as a food. The two that weren’t were potassium phosphate and “plant sterols”. Where are these magical sterols from, anyway?
Plant sterols are extracts of certain plants that, when ingested, have been shown to inhibit the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine. They’re naturally found in most whole foods and are now finding their way into all sorts of food products. Time will tell if plant sterols are the real deal or just hype.
All that fruit puree and fruit juice adds up to quite a sugar rush. I really don’t see how drinking a beverage like this, sterols or not, can work to reduce your cholesterol. As a matter of fact, there is a pediatric endocrinologist out at UCSF who has some research to show that drinking fruit juice can actually raise your cholesterol - Sugar the Bitter Truth
I think our family will pass. We’ll just eat real fruit and drink some water instead.
What you need to know:
Susan pretty much summed up the nutrition review, but we’d like to add a few points:
Each bottle actually contains 2 servings, not one, and supposedly is not meant for one portion. Perhaps that is the reason that nobody was able to finish the drink.
The sugars in the juice are all from the fruit, but at 26 grams, (8.5 teaspoons per serving) or 17 teaspoons for the bottle, that’s a lot of sugar! You’d have to eat 3 apples or 4 oranges to get the same amount. And you’d feel a lot more satiated.
When you eat real fruit, you also enjoy the benefit of fiber and hundreds of additional nutrients that don’t necessarily make it into the juice. In this product, the fiber content is not even mentioned (which is strange because the FDA mandates the labeling of fiber content). It’s probably safe to assume that there is little to no fiber in this juice.
We like the fact that the ingredient list is mostly understandable to humans. The potassium phosphate is an additive that emulsifies the contents in the bottle, keeping all the bits and pieces mixed together.
Plant sterols, also know as phytosterols, are “steroid alcohols” that occur naturally in plant oils, such as soybean oil. Their cholesterol lowering effect has been studied, but not all the tests have been positive so far. That’s why the phrasing is carefully worded “May reduce…”
The product name is carefully phrased though, to lead consumers to believe they have found the fountain of youth…
What to do at the supermarket:
Fruit juice should be considered a treat, not a beverage for hydration. We’ve got free tap water for that. Choose 100% fruit juices when you do choose. As for health claims, better to get the real deal from real fruit.
Big news in nutrition labeling this week. More precisely, in Front of Pack labeling (FOP). You know, the icons on a package that tell you a product is healthy, scores well, or is a smart choice. The idea is to simplify nutrition information into on simple score or check mark and thus facilitate making healthier choices.
After reviewing the challenges America faces, existing FOP systems, and the need for a simple solution, these are some of the conclusions a special committee reached:
1. Front-of-package rating systems and symbols would be best geared toward the general population.
2. The most useful primary purpose of front-of-package rating systems and symbols would be to help consumers identify and select foods based on the nutrients most strongly linked to public health concerns for Americans.
3. Regardless of system type, it would be useful to declare calorie and serving size information prominently in front-of-package symbols.
4. The most critical nutritional components to include in front-of package nutrition rating systems are calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium.
5. There is insufficient evidence at this time to suggest that including the following nutrients would be useful in all types of front-of-package rating systems or symbols: total fat, cholesterol, total carbohydrate, total or added sugars, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals other than sodium.
What you need to know:
We agree that excess calories, saturated fat, trans-fat and sodium are of biggest concern.
But at first reading, some of these conclusions are quite bold. For example – Total fat is not a concern . No need to look at fiber. And what about all those added sugars?
The IOM committee explains why outside the “fantastic four” nutrients, all others are not important to the general population for front of package labeling.
Total Fat – includes beneficial mono- and polyunsaturated fats, whose consumption is encouraged, and saturated and trans fats, whose consumption should be limited. Thus, it is difficult to characterize total fat content as either a positive or negative attribute of a food product.
Our take: agreed.
Cholesterol – an important concern for certain subgroups of the population, overconsumption of cholesterol is not as significant a problem for the general population as overconsumption of saturated fat, trans fat, or sodium, making it less important to include cholesterol in FOP system criteria. Saturated fat criteria may help to address most major sources of cholesterol in the diet since most foods that are high in cholesterol would not be rated well because of a high saturated fat content.
Our take: agreed. Total Carbohydrates – A variety of compounds that vary greatly in their physiological function, including
monosaccharides, disaccharides, starch, fiber, pectins, and gums, are all considered carbohydrates. Because of these compounds varied physiological functions, it would be difficult in many types of nutrition rating systems to characterize total carbohydrate content as a positive or negative attribute of a food product.
Our take: agreed.
Total Sugars – There is a lack of scientific agreement about the amount of sugars that can be consumed in a healthy diet and about potential adverse health effects of sugars beyond an effect on dental caries. Thus, it is difficult to conclude that total sugars intake is of sufficient public health concern to be included in FOP rating systems. Total sugars include those naturally present in fruits, vegetables, and fat free or low fat
dairy products, which are considered foods to encourage.
Our take: agreed.
Added Sugars – Despite the overall increase in calories that they provide to the American diet, at this time evidence and agreement are lacking about adverse health effects of added sugars, the exceptions being the extra calories that they contribute to a diet and their dilution of essential nutrient intake. An analytical test that can accurately determine added sugar content is unavailable, leaving the sharing of proprietary product formulations as the only apparent option for monitoring product compliance with established criteria. Added sugars are not included in the Nutrition Facts panel, so including added sugars in FOP system criteria would lead to inconsistencies between the Nutrition Facts panel and FOP symbols.
Our take: Added sugar needs to be a mandatory line in the nutrition facts panel. Once people see how much sugar comes from natural sources rather than added on, they can choose less process products. Since this was beyond the scope of the committee’s work, they could not
Protein - Protein is not currently considered a nutrient of public health concern in the United States.
Our take: agreed. That’s why we find it crazy that all sorts of products pump up and then boast their protein count.
Fiber, Vitamins, and Minerals (Other Than Sodium) – For many vitamins and minerals, there is no public health need for the general population to increase intake. In the case of fiber and those vitamins and minerals for which there is a public health need to increase intake, inclusion in an FOP rating system could lead to practices that may not be beneficial to consumers, such as excessive or inappropriate uses of fortification, or might inadvertently drive consumers away from foods that do not contain these components but which are otherwise considered nutritious food choices.
Our take: We agree that fortification can skew results. A candy fortified with fiber and vitamins would suddenly rate as a health food. But, Americans are doing very poorly in fiber intake. Foods that naturally contain fiber and nutrients should rate higher than those that don’t. By naturally we don’t mean adding inulin as a fiber source.
Summary of our first impression: This report is the fist serious government funded overview of Front-of-Pack labeling and it makes some bold suggestions. We may even look back onto it in a few years as a landmark in nutrition labeling. It calls dibs on some deceitful industry practices, and shows through the FOP keyhole some of the problems we have created for ourselves with nutrition education and nutrition labeling in general.
What to do at the supermarket:
We preached in the past and will keep preaching, the only way to ascertain what you are getting is to invest time in reading and understanding the nutrition label and the ingredient list. A new label on the package will not change this fact.
Vince said: when you consider other fast food options, Jamba’s items compare well. There are no trans fats, hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup derivatives in that wrap; 16 grams of fat isn’t that much considering how much saturated fat is in a burger. I think Jamba is offering consumers a good alternative to typical fast food.
Melissa: What about giving them props for the non-GMO ingredients? And I wouldn’t say that 75 ingredients is all that astounding considering it lists EVERY single ingredient used. If only all food was so diligently labeled rather than saying “seasonings.” I would have to say they are making a good effort in comparison to all the other fast food out there. I’m definitely not a loyal customer of this place or any other that can be found in a shopping mall, but come on… give them them credit for trying. I am a fan of Fooducate, but this article is a little silly.
Susan: You’re probably better off with this wrap that has some fat and some fiber than you would be drinking a juice filled smoothie for lunch.
We’re not above making mistakes; so we went back to the ingredient list to check it out. And you know what – despite its length, it really doesn’t have too many bad things. And Jamba pushes the right buttons by listing ingredient names such as “cholesterol free low fat mayo” (all plant based food is cholesterol free) , non GMO soy protein isolate, and aluminum free leavening.
Nevertheless, were you to make this wrap from scratch at home, it wouldn’t contain soy protein isolate, nor xantham gum. But you probably wouldn’t be using 15 different types of lettuce either.
Then again, only 2 grams of fiber from all these veggies? Must be tiny amounts of each green.
Complicated. But not all bad.
We should have been a bit more neutral on Jamba wraps – they are probably a better option than some greasy burger. If you need to watch your sodium – go for another wrap with less salt. And if you are having a 500 calorie wrap for lunch, you may want to forgo even the 16 oz smoothie – 11-15 teaspoons worth of sugar plus a 280 calorie addition to the day.
To all the commentators – Thank you for chiming, providing your feedback, and helping Fooducate become an even better resource for food and nutrition information!
Healthify your supermarket choices.
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There’s a consensus among the nutrition community that people should be eating less meat and more fish. For most people, this means salmon or canned tuna. These are indeed very popular and nutritious choices.
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