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News & Views: Changing The (Nutrition) Facts
Posted on March 3, 2014 by Stephanie Tammen | Categories: MD Unit1, Metabolic Disease, News | | 1 comment |

FDA Label

The nutrition facts label that we see on the sides of food packages is getting a make-over, after over 20 years of its use. The new labels are meant to be easier to understand for the consumer through changing what is on the label and altering the format. One major change is altering what is considered a serving size, so that it more closely follows what a person actually eats. For example, a bottle of soda or juice is currently labeled as 2 1/2 servings, so the consumer has to multiply the calories by 2.5 to determine how many calories and added sugars are actually contained in the bottle. Under the new guidelines, food products that are commonly consumed in one sitting will be listed as one serving. Some other important changes reflect research findings over the past decades, including research on vitamin D. It has recently been reported that a large portion of the U.S. population is deficient in vitamin D, therefore the new Nutrition Facts label will require food companies to list the amount of vitamin D in their product. So what do you think? Is the label more user-friendly? Read about the changes and view an example of the label at the FDA’s press release here.