Hold onto your grocery cart. Don't drop your shopping list.
Finally. At long last. After years of hard work and much hoopla, the new food label is here.
Thousands of processed foods in your grocery store will carry the improved label. Many already do, and products that are manufactured after next Sunday will have to carry the new Nutrition Facts panel. But shoppers will see some of the old labels until supplies are depleted.
Today, the Food and Drug Administration launches its efforts to get the word out about the label with a consumer education program that includes public service announcements.
But for now, shoppers may be wondering: What the heck do all these terms mean? How much fiber should you eat? Before you jump in your grocery cart and check out, take a look at this page on how to use the labeling information.
Making Nutrition Facts panel work for you
One of the best ways to use the new food label is to compare products.
But first you have to decide which nutrition components you're most concerned about - fat, saturated fat, fiber, calories, says Mary Lee Chin, a registered dietitian in Denver.
When reading labels, she advises:
-- Check serving sizes and see if they're realistic for you.
-- Use the daily values as a general guideline to make your food choices for the day.
-- Keep in mind that the percent daily value is how much of your day's allotment is in a serving of this product. It's based on a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet so you may have to adjust the figures slightly if you're eating more or less.
Chin did some grocery shopping for us and found:
-- Fat. If you're concerned about fat, look at the fat grams or the percent daily value from fat. Two Common Sense Oatbran Eggo waffles have 200 calories, 7 grams of fat, 11% of your total fat for the day and 8% of your saturated fat for the day.
But a serving of three Hostess Bite Sized Frosted Donettes have 230 calories, 14 grams of fat, 22% of your daily allotment of fat, and a whopping 45% of the day's saturated fat - the fat that raises your cholesterol.
If you eat those doughnuts, you'd better watch your saturated fat for the rest of the day, she says. "They're really an indulgence."
-- Fiber. If you're trying to get enough fiber - about 25 grams a day - look at the dietary fiber listing.
One-half cup of Kellogg's All-Bran has 10 grams of fiber, which is 40% of what you need for the day. One cup of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 1 gram of fiber or 4% of what you need for the day. One cup of Marshmallow Alpha-bits also has 1gram, 4% of your day's fiber.
-- Fat and calories. Three Nabisco Chips Ahoy! cookies are 160 calories and 8 grams of fat, which is 12% of your daily value of fat. But two Nabisco SnackWell's Double Fudge Cookie Cakes have 100 calories, zero fat.
A key to terms
Nutrition terms are now defined by federal regulations:
-- Low fat. Three grams or less of fat per serving.
-- Fat free. Less than 1/2 gram of fat per serving.
-- Low calorie. Forty calories or fewer per serving.
-- Reduced calorie. At least 25% fewer calories when compared with standard product.
-- Light or Lite. A third fewer calories or 50% less fat than the standard product. If more than half of the calories are from fat, fat content must be reduced by 50% or more.
To learn more
Still craving more information about the new food label? These brochures may help:
-- An Introduction to the New Food Label. Write the Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane (HFE-88), Rockville, MD. 20857.
-- How to Read the New Food Label and Facts about the New Food Label, call your local American Heart Association, or 800-242-8721.
-- Labeling Logic. Send a self-addressed, stamped business-size envelope to Labeling Logic brochure, American Dietetic Association, P.O. Box 39101, Chicago, Ill. 60639.
Fortified information Here's an explanation of some of the terms on the Nutrition Facts panel from an oatmeal box.
Serving size: Listed in household and metric measures, adjusted to amounts a person might actually eat. Read carefully, there are variations.
% Daily Value: New term tells how much of the day's worth of the nutrient comes from a serving of this food, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Less than 5% is considered low.
Saturated fat: A nutrient to limit for reducing risk of heart disease. The lower this number, the better. Goal: less than 20 grams daily on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Required here: Vitamin A, calcium, vitamin C, iron. If a claim is made about another nutrient on the package, then information about it is mandatory.
Daily values for 2,000- and 2,500-calories diets must be listed on the label of larger packages. Some amounts, like fat and saturated fat, are maximums; others, like fiber, are minimums.
