The individual-sized bag of Fritos sitting on my desk has 320 milligrams of sodium, no cholesterol, 3 grams of protein and 180 calories of fat. But what do those numbers actually tell me about the snack? Is it good for me? Bad for me? Somewhere in-between?
Today, the Institute of Medicine issued a report (.pdf) urging the Food and Drug Administration to begin labeling food with easy-to-read ratings on nutritional value. Instead of the nutrition-ese we’ve grown accustomed to seeing on food packaging, the proposed system would rate food based on its sodium, sugar and fat content on a scale from zero to three, with three being the best possible rating for the given factor.
In spite of new diets emerging each year promising dazzling results and studies published on a seemingly weekly basis proclaiming new nutritional information, Americans still spend more than $145 billion each year in obesity-related health costs. As Ellen Wartella, PhD, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University and leader of the Institute of Medicine committee advocating the new rating system (which has been likened to the Energy Star program labels on consumer products), points out in a Bloomberg article:
Americans today have access to more information about nutrition than any previous generation, and yet the nation is facing a crisis of obesity and diet-related chronic disease. It’s clear that there is a disconnect between dietary recommendations and actual consumption.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which launched its Facts Up Front program in January, asserts that consumers would rather make judgments on healthy food for themselves than be told what’s good for them by the government. But in a commentary on MSNBC’s Vitals blog, bioethicist Art Caplan, PhD, offers that:
Big government is an easy target but the industry argument misses the point. The government’s role is to get industry to give you trustworthy useful information. Telling you that Captain Crunch is fortified with iron does not make it healthy for kids to eat sugary breakfast foods.
As I try to make sense of the nutritional gibberish on the back of my bag of Fritos, I nod in affirmation.
Photo by Syvwlch
