A new proposed Nutrition Facts label will provide some good information that has been missing but also removes some extremely important information from the Nutrition Facts label.
- FDA proposing adding the display of Added Sugars which we commend!
- FDA proposing removing the display of Calories from Fat which we lament!
Why do we care?
With the removal of the Calories from Fat we will no longer be able to calculate the Percentage of Calories from Fat (AKA Calorie Density) which is important information to aid people in combating our growing obesity epidemic. We have always wished for the Percentage of Calories from Fat to be ADDED to the Nutrition Facts label. Up until now this values has NOT been displayed but could be calculated by dividing the Calories from Fat by the Total Calories. Now the plan is to remove the values which allow us to do the calculation.
Formula: Calories from Fat divided by Total Calories equals Percentage of Calories from Fat.
The following example is taken from the Proposed Label and the Current Label on the fda.gov web site:
Simple Math: 40 / 230 = 17.4%
Calories from Fat 40 divided by Total Calories 230 equals Percentage of Calories from Fat 17.4%
For more information on Calorie Density read The Calorie Density Approach to Nutrition and Lifelong Weight Management by Jeff Novick.
This is also another excellent article on by Jeff Novick entitled Insights Into Your Health: Understanding Food Labels.
For more information on the Alarming Obesity Trends in the United States view this slideshow on DrCarney.com created from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System of the CDC images. Be sure to click all the way through the slides for maximum effect!
For an overview of the proposed changes you can Click Here to Read the FDA Article on the Proposed Nutrition Facts label changes.