New Features of Nutrition Labels You Need to Know About
Finally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided that nutrition fact labels need a makeover! Why? The answer is – to clarify the effect of nutrition on chronic diseases such as obesity, heart problems, etc. Chronic diseases related to inactivity and wrong food choices are the main concern for the US and other countries around the globe. The FDA has mandated all food manufacturers to adopt the new nutrition labels by July 2018. What is new about these labels? Read this post to know more.
Features of New Nutrition Labels
The FDA has maintained the iconic look of the FDA labels. However, they have made several updates to help users make the right eating decisions. The new label highlights the following:
- Calories and Serving Sizes: The serving size defines the recommended intake per serving.
- Added Sugars: This refers to sugars added during the food production process. Following the new FDA mandate, food manufacturers need to mention the values in grams as well as the % Daily Value (DV).
Note: The DV informs you nutritional contribution of the serving size to a daily diet requirement – 2000 calories.
Sugar is present in many of our regular and natural food items such as fruits, vegetables, milk, etc. While sugar is a primary source of energy, added sugar in sweetened beverages or foods can pack extra calories, which is detrimental to health.
- Vitamin D and Potassium Declaration: The new nutrition label rule mandates food manufacturers to declare potassium and vitamin D on their labels, by replacing vitamin A and C. Manufacturers can keep information about vitamin A and C, if they want to inform users that the formulation suffices vitamin A and C requirements of their daily intake.
Apart from the above-mentioned important changes, there are various other mandatory additions, which we will discuss in the next post.
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