By MARSHA
MERCER
After hiking in a beautiful Virginia state park last
weekend, friends gathered around a picnic table. As we unpacked our lunches -- virtuous
sandwiches on whole wheat and righteous chips of kale and quinoa -- Doug pulled
out a bag of trail mix.
“Healthy,” the bag proclaimed in big print. Doug read
the small print and frowned.
“How can this
be healthy?” he demanded. “It’s got chocolate
in it.”
No worries, his pals said. Chocolate is now OK – dark
chocolate, anyway. Doug was unconvinced.
“Anybody want chocolate?” he asked.
We’ve all had that moment of feeling misled upon
reading the fine print on an ingredient label. What we grabbed off the store
shelf, lured by the promise of “healthy” or “natural,” turned out to be loaded
with sugar or additives.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday it
will review the definition of “healthy”; it’s already examining what it means
to be “natural.”
The process of formulating new rules takes years. So we
consumers need to accept the things we cannot change. Think of claims on packaged
foods as puffery. Period.
The criteria the FDA uses to judge what’s “healthy”
are antiquated. Under guidelines first adopted in the 1990s, canned soups,
fat-free puddings and sugary cereals qualify, but not plain almonds, avocado and
salmon.
This craziness happened because back then fat was
Public Enemy No. 1.
To be "healthy," a food could
have 1 gram or less of saturated fat per serving and no more than 15 percent of
calories from saturated fat. It also had to meet criteria in sodium,
cholesterol and nutrients such as calcium and vitamin C. Sugar wasn’t even
considered. Food science has moved on, and we now know there are good fats,
like those in nuts and salmon.
In March 2015, the FDA sent Kind LLC a warning letter,
saying it had to stop using the word “healthy” on four of its popular fruit-and-nut
bars because the products had too much fat.
Kind fought back, filing a citizen petition with FDA,
arguing that the agency should have rules that are consistent with current
nutrition science as set forth in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines. Last month, FDA
agreed and said Kind could use “healthy and tasty” on its packages as the
agency reviews the definition.
The kerfuffle was great publicity for Kind, which had
to change none of its ingredients. CEO and founder Daniel Lubetzky praised FDA
for being “very, very open to listening” and for beginning the conversation to
update the rules.
Here’s how Marion Nestle, New York University food
science and nutrition professor and author of “Food Politics: How the Food
Industry Influences Nutrition and Health,” assessed the situation on her Food
Politics blog:
“The terms
`healthy’ and `natural’ help to sell food products. They are about marketing,
not health. This makes life difficult for the FDA, which has the unenviable job
of defining what the terms mean on food labels.”
Until the 1980s, companies were prohibited from
touting foods as a possible way to reduce disease. In 1984, the Kellogg
Company, maker of All-Bran cereal, and the National Cancer Institute began
spreading the word that a low-fat, high-fiber diet could help reduce the risk
of colon cancer. The FDA did not object because the statement was true, Clare M.
Haskel wrote in the Journal of Nutrition.
Soon, though, unsubstantiated health claims flooded
the market, and in 1989 Business Week magazine ran a cover story, “Health
Claims for Foods are Becoming Ridiculous.” Congress passed the Nutrition
Labeling and Nutrition Act of 1990, which allows health claims only with FDA
approval.
FDA created a system for evaluating foods and has
tried to keep consumers informed, but the messages are often confusing.
Chocolate, for example,
has been shown in some studies to have antioxidant potential and may lower
cholesterol, but its high calorie, sugar and fat content can lead to tooth
decay and obesity.
Hardly a day passes without new guidance about what to
eat -- or avoid eating -- to stay healthy. The ever-changing advice is frustrating,
but one thing is clear:
“When it comes to food labels, `healthy’ and `natural’
are marketing terms,” says Nestle. “Their
purpose is to sell food products. Caveat emptor.”
(c)2016 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.
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