Don't Let Food Labels Fool You (Part 1)
by Lisa Drayer, MA, RD

In 1990, the United States Department of Agriculture introduced mandatory food labeling for nearly all packaged foods, along with the now-familiar "Nutrition Facts" labeling format. The few exceptions to the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) include foods prepared on-site for immediate consumption (such as restaurant meals); coffee, tea, and spices generally recognized as containing no significant amounts of nutrients; bulk food that is not resold; and food produced by small businesses.

The "Nutrition Facts" format was introduced to provide uniformity among product labeling, to define specific health claims used in labeling (such as "low-fat" or "high fiber"), and to help ensure that the "serving size" indicated on the label was realistic. Despite these changes, many consumers still find themselves misled by food label claims. Since nutrition labels are your key to knowing just what you are eating, it pays to become label savvy. The information below will give you an inside look at food labels-and will help you read between the label lines.

Secrets Behind the Serving Size

Serving sizes on labels are based on "reference amounts" established by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The reference amounts, which are given in household measures, fall into 139 FDA-regulated food product categories. For example, cookies fall under the "bakery products" category, and have a reference amount of 30 grams. Thus, the serving size of a box of cookies where each cookie weighs 10 grams would read "3 cookies."

What's important to be aware of is that the values that you see on the Nutrition Facts labels don't always tell the whole picture, unless you read between the lines! For example, the values on the labels always represent one serving. But, you may not be aware that the food you are eating contains more than one serving!

Here are some examples:

• An over-sized, packaged muffin with the following: Calories: 230; Fat: 12 grams; Servings Per Container: 2. If you just took a quick look at the label, you may think that what you are eating is actually only 230 calories, and 12 grams of fat (after all, who thinks of a muffin as more than one serving?!) but in reality, you're packing away 460 calories and 24 grams of fat!
• Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Bags. Serving Size: 4 cookies; Servings/Container: 12. But, the container only has 6 bags! Thus, the nutrition facts label that you read on the bag--which says 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 2.5 grams of saturated fat--must be multiplied by 2 in order to see what you would get by eating the entire bag (which, of course, is what most people do)! Thus, you are really consuming 300 calories and 14 grams of fat; 5 grams of saturated fat.
• Fig Newtons. Serving Size: one cookie; Servings/Container: 24. But, the container only has 12 packages. Just as with the example above, you have to multiply the nutritional values by 2, to get the value for the package of 2 cookies (so 100 calories becomes 200!). Again, you might not get the correct nutritional values if you just glanced quickly at the label--you might think it's 100 calories for the entire package, when in reality, it's 200 calories for the package.
• Hostess Banana Walnut Mini Muffins (bag): Serving size: 3 pieces. 160 calories; 9 grams of fat. But the servings/container = 2! So, by eating the 6 mini-muffins, you're getting 320 calories and 18 grams of fat!

Thus, manufacturers are following the rules, and are abiding by government regulations (i.e. reference amounts), but the portion sizes that consumers actually eat reflect greater values than what you would see on the Nutrition Facts label alone.

The Bottom Line: If you don't read between the lines (i.e. look at "Servings Per Container"), then you may not notice that you're consuming more than what you read on the label!

Ingredients on Labels: The Real Deal?

According to an article in the Nutrition Action Health Letter, "... companies go out of their way to trick shoppers by emphasizing ingredients that are added in miniscule amounts or aren't there at all." According to the article:

• Stonyfield Farms Strawberry Stratosphere Yosqueeze yogurt has no berries - only beet juice to simulate a strawberry color, plus natural flavors.
• Quaker Strawberries & Cream and Peaches & Cream Oatmeal do not contain strawberries or peaches, just dried apple bits with artificial color.
• Betty Crocker Stir 'n Bake Carrot Cake Mix lists carrot powder as the last ingredient, which means the cake mix has more salt, cinnamon, red dye, xanthan gum, and other additives than carrot powder.
  

After doing some investigating, we found that these foods are not the only offenders. Take a look at these other deceiving foods:

• I Can't Believe It's Not Butter: It may not be butter, but 1 tablespoon still contains 90 calories and 10 grams of fat, with 2 grams of saturated fat.
• Hillshire Farms Turkey Kielbasa: In small print, the label reads "Beef added for better flavor".
• Yogurt-covered pretzels or raisins: The only yogurt in these pretzels is the yogurt flavoring in the coating, which is high in palm oil -- a saturated fat.
• Quaker Fruit Breakfast Bars: Fruit is listed as the 5th ingredient, after corn syrup and sugar. (Ingredients are listed in order of most to least amounts)
• Multi-Grain Wheat Thins: Sounds like these will be fiber-packed, right? Not necessarily. One serving of the Wheat Thins (17 crackers) provides 2 grams of fiber. Whole wheat flour is the 3rd ingredient in these crackers; the "multi-grains" (including oats, whole wheat, millet, rye, and barley) are further down the label. A better cracker: Reduced-fat Triscuits have 120 calories and 3 grams of fat per 7 crackers, and twice the fiber of the Wheat Thins.
• Multi-Grain Cheerios: Again, if this sounds like a superior choice to regular Cheerios, check that label again -- both varieties of Cheerios serve up 3 grams of fiber per serving. You'll find more sugar than grains in Multi-Grain Cheerios; in fact, you'll find more sugar in Multi-Grain Cheerios than in regular Cheerios. Try Multi-Bran Chex instead, for 8 grams of fiber per serving.
  

The Bottom Line: Don't assume that the names on food packages reflect what's on the inside. Look at the ingredient list to estimate how much of a particular ingredient is in the food.

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Lisa Drayer, MA, RD has provided nutrition counseling to clients, written material for books and health Web sites, and appeared in several national magazines and on television as an expert in the nutrition field.