(Press-News.org) Oct. 13, 2010 — Nutrition rating systems and symbols on the fronts of food packaging would be most useful to shoppers if they highlighted four nutrients of greatest concern – calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium – says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. These food components are routinely overconsumed and associated most strongly with diet-related health problems affecting many Americans, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
Given the limited space on package fronts and the information already available in the Nutrition Facts panel on the backs of all products, it would not be crucial for these rating systems and symbols to focus on other components, such as cholesterol, fiber, added sugars, or vitamins, concluded the committee that wrote the report.
These findings stem from the committee's review of nutritional criteria behind front-of-package nutrition rating systems and symbols, part of a larger study of these informational tools. A multitude of nutrition rating, or guidance, systems have been developed by food manufacturers, government agencies, nutrition groups, and others in recent years with the intent of helping consumers quickly compare products' nutritional attributes and make healthier choices. Ratings are typically communicated to shoppers through symbols placed prominently on food packaging, usually on the front, or on retail shelf tags. Unlike the Nutrition Facts panel, these rating systems and symbols are unregulated, and different systems focus on different nutrients. The variation may confuse consumers, and questions have been raised about the systems' underlying nutritional criteria.
"Calories, saturated fat, trans fats, and sodium present the most serious diet-related risks to people's health, and many Americans consume far too much of these nutrients," said committee chair Ellen Wartella, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Communication, professor of psychology, and director, Center on Media and Human Development, School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. "As Americans grapple with increasing rates of serious health problems connected to their diets, it's important that the nutritional information they receive is clear, consistent, and well-grounded in nutrition science."
Some organizations and nutrition experts have called for nutrition rating systems to also focus on the sugars added to some products during manufacturing. The committee concurred that both added and naturally occurring sugars contribute to the caloric content of foods and beverages and overconsumption of high-calorie products can lead to obesity. Highlighting calories per serving in nutrition rating systems would address this concern.
The committee will next review research on how consumers understand and use different types of nutritional information and issue a second report recommending ways to optimize the usefulness of front-of-package nutrition rating systems and symbols. This report will also include the committee's assessment of the pros and cons of having a single, standardized front-label food guidance system that is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
INFORMATION:
The report was sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. A committee roster follows.
Copies of Enhancing Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols: Phase I Report are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed below).
Contacts: Christine Stencel, Senior Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail
[ This news release and report are available at http://national-academies.org ]
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
Food and Nutrition Board
Committee on Examination of Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols (Phase 1)
Ellen Wartella, Ph.D. (chair)
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of
Communication, Professor of Psychology, and Director
Center on Media and Human Development
Northwestern University
Evanston, Ill.
Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc. (vice chair)
Stanley N. Gershoff Professor at Nutrition Science and Policy
Friedman School
Senior Scientist and Director
Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory
Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
Tufts University
Boston
Lindsay H. Allen, Ph.D.
Center Director and Research Professor
ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
University of California
Davis
Tracy A. Fox, M.P.H., R.D.
Nutrition Consultant and President
Food, Nutrition, and Policy Consultants, LLC
Washington, D.C.
Matthew W. Kreuter, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Social Work and Medicine
Director, Health Communication Research Laboratory
Washington University
St. Louis
Anusree Mitra, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Marketing
Kogod School of Business
American University
Washington, D.C.
Frances H. Seligson, Ph.D., R.D.
Nutrition Consultant
Hershey, Pa.
Mary T. Story, Ph.D., R.D.
Professor and Associate Dean
School of Public Health
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis
Virginia Wilkening, M.S., R.D.
Career Nutrition Scientist
Food and Drug Administration (retired)
Alexandria, Va.
STAFF
Linda D. Meyers
Study Director
END
(Boston) - Investigators from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have reported that the use of a web-based questionnaire can be a cost-effective tool for obtaining survey response.
The study results, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, were based on data from the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS), a large prospective cohort study of 59,000 African American women from across the U.S. conducted by investigators at the Slone Epidemiology Center since 1995.
The participants are sent paper questionnaires every two ...
URBANA – When you think about "wine country," Illinois may not be the first state that comes to mind. But it's actually big business on the prairie. There are 90 wineries licensed in Illinois and 1,500 acres of wine grapes. One acre of wine grapes can bring as much as $8,000 in sales, though more commonly it's $3,000 to $5,000. The largest wineries in Illinois produce 90,000 gallons per year, while many produce 3,000 to 10,000 per year.
"In many cases, growing wine grapes is supplementary to the producer's entire farming operation. The break-even point for wineries ...
Rice University research that capitalizes on the wide-ranging capabilities of graphene could lead to circuit applications that are far more compact and versatile than what is now feasible with silicon-based technologies.
Triple-mode, single-transistor amplifiers based on graphene -- the one-atom-thick form of carbon that recently won its discoverers a Nobel Prize -- could become key components in future electronic circuits. The discovery by Rice researchers was reported this week in the online journal ACS Nano.
Graphene is very strong, nearly transparent and conducts ...
New Rochelle, NY, October 13, 2010—Parents of children with undiagnosed learning disorders, developmental deficits, and congenital abnormalities face a host of psychological and social challenges, which are explored in detail in a reflective article in Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online ahead of print at www.liebertpub.com/gtmb
An interview-based study of parents of children with undiagnosed disorders describes the parental experience as a "journey" ...
Experiments with an artificial stomach suggest that a popular lemon-lime soft drink could play an unexpected role in improving the effectiveness of an oral anticancer drug. The experiments produced evidence that patients will absorb more of the unnamed drug, tested in Phase I in clinical trials, when taken with "flat" or degassed Sprite. The study appears in ACS' Molecular Pharmaceutics, a bi-monthly journal.
Faraj Atassi and colleagues note that efforts are underway to develop more anticancer medications that patients can take by mouth. However, biological variations ...
With almost one billion people lacking access to clean, safe drinking water, scientists are reporting development and successful initial tests of an inexpensive new filtering technology that kills up to 98 percent of disease-causing bacteria in water in seconds without clogging. A report on the technology appears in Nano Letters, a monthly American Chemical Society journal.
Yi Cui and colleagues explain that most water purifiers work by trapping bacteria in tiny pores of filter material. Pushing water through those filters requires electric pumps and consumes a lot of ...
On the eve of the 2010-11 influenza flu season, scientists and engineers have identified the environmental conditions and surfaces that could enable a highly pathogenic (H5N1) bird flu virus to survive for prolonged periods of time — at least two weeks and up to two months. Among them: The virus appears to thrive at cooler temperatures and low humidity. The study, which could lead to new strategies for preventing the flu virus from spreading, appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.
Joseph Wood and colleagues note that the highly pathogenic ...
Scientists are reporting new evidence that the fat tissue in those spare tires and lower belly pooches — far from being a dormant storage depot for surplus calories — is an active organ that sends chemical signals to other parts of the body, perhaps increasing the risk of heart attacks, cancer, and other diseases. They are reporting discovery of 20 new hormones and other substances not previously known to be secreted into the blood by human fat cells and verification that fat secretes dozens of hormones and other chemical messengers. Their study appears in ACS' monthly ...
Engine friction — the force that wastes almost 1.4 million barrels of oil per day in cars and trucks in the United States alone — could become less of a problem for fuel-conscious consumers thanks to promising new oils and other materials that scientists are developing. That's the topic of the cover story in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.
C&EN Senior Business Editor Melody Voith notes that friction, the heat produced when objects rub together, wastes fuel in engines and other machinery and causes their parts to wear ...
Although ammonites have been extinct for 65 million years, newly published data based on 35 years of field work and analysis is providing invaluable insights into their paleobiology. Ammonites, shelled mollusks closely related to modern day nautilus and squids, inhabited the oceans for nearly 350 million years. Specimens found in the rock record of the ancient seaway that covered North America during the Cretaceous Period demonstrate that these animals thrived at cold methane seeps at the bottom of the sea, consumed small prey, and often survived predation attempts.
...
