What Everybody Ought to Know About Food Labels

The Hidden Truth About Food Additives

Did you know that many additives are not listed on food labels? According to the FDA, more than 300 standardized foods, including ice cream, ketchup, and cheddar cheese, are exempt from listing their ingredients. These foods are made according to a "standard of identity," a recipe regulated by the FDA that specifies the concentrations of various ingredients. For example, mayonnaise must contain vegetable oil, vinegar or lemon juice, and egg yolk, but these ingredients don't have to be listed on the label.

Why Fresh and Minimally Processed Foods Are Better

Eating fresh or minimally processed foods is advisable because they usually contain fewer additives. Junk foods like cookies, candy, and soda are not only high in artificial colors and other additives but also offer little nutritional value. They are often high in calories, sugar, fats, and sodium, which can be particularly harmful to children, who are the primary consumers of these foods.

The Deceptive Nature of Ingredient Lists

Most foods are not standardized and must list their ingredients. However, these lists can be misleading, especially regarding sugar and sodium content. Flavorings and colorings are often not clearly specified, making it difficult for consumers to understand what they are eating.

Nutritional Information: What You Need to Know

Food labels provide limited information about fat and cholesterol, two nutrients that are crucial for many people. While a nutrition label must list the grams of fat per serving, it rarely provides a breakdown of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids. Cholesterol content is also optional unless a specific claim is made about it.

Tips for Reading Food Labels

1. Limit Artificial Colors: Opt for products colored by real fruit juice instead of artificial colors.
2. Eat a Variety of Foods: This reduces exposure to any one additive, which may have long-term risks.
3. Check for Optional Ingredients: Some manufacturers voluntarily list ingredients on standardized foods or provide them upon request.

Who is Protecting You?

Food additives are extensively studied and regulated, primarily by the FDA. Legislation in 1958 and 1960 required manufacturers to prove the safety of any new additive. Before this, the burden was on the government to prove a substance's health danger.

Margin of Safety

If manufacturer-sponsored tests prove an additive is safe, the FDA sets guidelines for its use. Generally, food manufacturers can use only one-hundredth of the least amount of an additive shown to be toxic in lab animals.

The Delaney Clause

This restrictive provision of the 1958 law states that a substance shown to cause cancer in animals or humans may not be added to food in any amount. Food manufacturers argue against this rule, claiming that the cancer risk is minuscule or that the benefits of the additive outweigh the risks.

Testing for Safety

Absolute safety of an additive can never be proven. Animal studies, our primary mode of testing, have limitations. They may not effectively assess the degree of cancer risk from long-term use due to the animals' short life spans. Moreover, it is challenging to make precise comparisons between animals and humans.

Achieving and Maintaining Good Health

With countless diets and programs promising weight loss, it should be easy. However, as any veteran dieter knows, losing weight and keeping it off is challenging. The primary focus of weight control should be to achieve and maintain good health.

Daily Nutritional Guidelines

• Eat a variety of foods.
• Consume a high-fiber diet: Choose more grains, fruits, and vegetables instead of protein, fats, and sugar.
• Maintain a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet: Eat no more than 30% of calories from fat, including only 10% from saturated fat.
• Use moderate amounts of salt and sodium.
• Limit alcohol intake.

Changing Food and Eating Behavior

• Don't skip meals.
• Eat small meals throughout the day.
• Chew slowly.
• Use smaller plates.
• Avoid second helpings.
• Bake or broil instead of frying.
• Choose low-calorie or low-fat foods.
• Learn about food values.
• Reward yourself with non-food pleasures.

The Role of Fat in Weight Gain

Ounce for ounce, fat provides more than twice as many calories as protein or carbohydrates (nine calories vs. four). This energy difference may explain how fat promotes weight gain. Even when calories are the same, a person eating a high-fat diet tends to store more excess calories as body fat than someone eating a lower-fat diet.

Integrated Nutrition and Exercise

Maintaining a desirable weight and body fat percentage often requires an integrated program of nutrition and exercise. If you're overweight, shedding pounds can reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other diseases. Even small weight losses can have significant health benefits.

Conclusion

Understanding food labels and the hidden additives in our food is crucial for making informed dietary choices. By opting for fresh or minimally processed foods, reading labels carefully, and following a balanced diet, you can improve your health and well-being.

For more information on food labeling and nutrition, visit the FDA's official website and the American Heart Association.

Sources:

1. FDA Food Labeling & Nutrition
2. American Heart Association - Understanding Food Nutrition Labels
3. National Institutes of Health - Additives in Food