Have you ever seen the green check next to the words Smart Choices and bought a product as a result? If so, you’re not alone... Many (savvy!) clients have told me that they have done this themselves. Problem is that the check and those words were industry driven and not necessarily truly smart choices... Here is an excerpt from a recent NYT article, "Food Label Program to Suspend Operations" (October 24, 2009) by WILLIAM NEUMAN
"Under pressure from state and federal authorities who feared consumers would be misled, the food industry on Friday started backing away from a major labeling campaign meant to highlight the nutritional benefits of hundreds of products. PepsiCo said that it was cutting its ties with the program, called Smart Choices, which features a green checkmark on the front of products that meet its nutritional criteria.
Kellogg’s, which makes Fruit Loops and other sugary cereals that received the program’s seal of approval, said that it would begin phasing out packaging bearing the program logo as its inventories ran out. Officials with the program said that Smart Choices would suspend most of its operations while they waited for the Food and Drug Administration to devise regulations for package-front nutrition labeling. Those rules could differ from the program’s criteria...."
Here is more about the Smart Choices program: http://www.smartchoicesprogram.com/index.html and here is more about the letter dated August 19, 2009 (http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/LabelClaims/ucm180146.htm ) sent by the FDA in August asking the organization to stop using the flawed system... Hmm.. interesting lag time...
Check out the attached chart here to see what the definitions are for the Smart Choices program. http://www.smartchoicesprogram.com/pdf/Smart%20Choices%20Program%20Nutrition%20Criteria%20Matrix.pdf You will probably be struck by the added sugars column as I was. In my opinion, cereals should have fewer than 5 grams of added sugars and the total sugar content of the diet should be at a level less than 10 percent of total calories when possible, not the 25% stated here (and recommended by the current USDA guidelines).
According to a newly released AHA scientific statement, (August 2009) published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, "most American women should consume no more than 100 calories of added sugars per day; most men, no more than 150 calories. That’s about 6 teaspoons of added sugars a day for women and 9 for men. The 2001-2004 NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) database showed the average intake of added sugars for all Americans was 22.2 teaspoons per day or about 355 calories. (For comparison,...) soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the No. 1 source of added sugars in the American diet. A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 130 calories and 8 teaspoons of sugar."
Back to the "Smart Choices" program...
Now check out the Board of Directors below. What do you notice? I notice that the non-industry members don’t have any affiliations listed there. That is VERY surprising and frankly, I haven't seen that done before. If these members are being touted as non-industry, NGO (non-governmental agencies) and/or Academics, then what are their affiliations and credentials?
Board of Directors Representing Non-Industry (NGOs, Academics):
Dr. Dennis Bier
Houston, TX
Dr. Mary Hager
Washington, DC
Dr. Richard Kahn
Alexandria, VA
Dr. Eileen Kennedy
Boston, MA
Board of Directors Representing Industry (Participating Smart Choices Program™ Companies):
Dr. Celeste Clark
Kellogg's
Battle Creek, MI
Dr. Susan Crockett
General Mills
Minneapolis, MN
Mr. Chris Doherty
Kraft Foods North America
Northfield, IL
Ms. Nancy Schnell
Unilever U.S.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
In addition, Mr. Michael Hughes of The Keystone Center, Denver, Colorado will hold a seat on the Smart Choices Program Board of Directors
As it turns out, for instance, Dr, Eileen Kennedy is a professor at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, a highly respected university. She did work at the USDA. (Kennedy bio: http://provost.tufts.edu/1174149600661/Provost-Page-prov2w_1174149601179.html )
Dr. Richard Kahn is the retired Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of the American Diabetes Association in Alexandria, VA (http://www.diabetes.org/for-media/pr-kahn-retirement.jsp )
Dr. Bier is a pediatric endocrinologist at Baylor Medicine. As it turns out, these are all highly respected individuals… still left wondering why their affiliations are not listed....
The bottom line is that the system is flawed if foods such as Fruit Loops and Cookie Crisps meet this criteria and this is confusing for consumers. One of my nutrition clients, for instance, said that she specifically purchased those cereals because of the green check...
There are too many things a smart consumer needs to know when trying to make a good decision at the supermarket. Until a system is designed and supported by an objective organization, such as The Center for Science in The Public Interest, for instance, let's stick with just the facts... such as the Nutrition Facts Panel on the food label... as long as you know how to read them.
Just to clarify some confusing items on the food labels...
Nutrient Content Descriptors...The following terms may be listed to describe the level of a nutrient in a food:
Some tricky ones first...
Light - this term could mean two things! First, the nutritionally altered product could contain one-third fewer calories or half the fat of the reference food. Second, that the sodium content of a low calorie, low fat food has been reduced by 50 percent. Beware - the term "light" still can be used to describe such properties as texture and color.
Low - The product can be eaten frequently without exceeding dietary guidelines. For example: low fat: 3 grams or less per serving. But, beware, reduced fat is very different! Reduced fat means that the product is nutritionally altered to contain 25 percent less fat than the regular or reference product.
Lean and extra lean are terms used to describe meat poultry, seafood and game meats only. Why do they need their own category? I am not sure either.
- Lean: less than 10 g fat, less than 4 g saturated fat and less than 95 mg cholesterol per serving and per
100 g.
- Extra lean: less than 5 g fat, less than 2 g saturated fat and less than 95 mg cholesterol per serving and
per 100 g.
These definitions are as you might expect....
Free - The product contains no amount of, or "physiologically inconsequential" amounts of one or more of the following: fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, sugars and calories. Synonyms for "free" include: "without", "no" and "zero".
*Low - The product can be eaten frequently without exceeding dietary guidelines. For example:
Low saturated fat: 1 g or less per serving
Low sodium: less than 140 mg per serving
Very low sodium: less than 35 mg per serving
Low cholesterol: less than 20 mg per serving
Low calorie: 40 calories or less per serving
High - The food contains 20 percent or more of the Daily Value for a particular nutrient in a serving.
Good source - One serving of the food contains 10 to 19 percent of the Daily Value for a particular nutrient.
Less - The food, whether altered or not, contains 25 percent less of a nutrient or of calories than the
reference food. For example, pretzels that have 25 percent less fat than potato chips could carry the term.
"Fewer" is also an acceptable synonym.
More - The food, whether altered or not, contains a nutrient that is at least 10 percent of the Daily Value more than the reference food.
Be sure to read labels carefully so that you know you are making the best choice for your health.
What do you look for in a cereal? Any favorite brands to share with other readers? What do you think about the new sugar recommendations? Please share your thoughts. If you’ve learned something interesting, let me know...
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