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FDA Wants to Label Added vs Naturally-occurring Sugars

destrekor

Lifer
And it makes sense.

All the health groups of the world are either proclaiming support or at the least agreeing.

Yet -- and who couldn't see this coming -- all the confectionery and sugar groups are vehemently opposed to such an idea. Whodathunkit?!


http://www.latimes.com/health/boost...ed-sugar-label-foods-20120803,0,7009961.story

[Article is close to a month old, but I searched and didn't see any posts covering this. Just stumbled on it, linked at the bottom of a different article I read this morning.]
 
I dunno, the confectioners, etc. have a point. Sugar is sugar regardless of source, and current labels already do tell you exactly how much is in whatever it is. On the other hand, I would be interested to know how much sugar they add to, say, dehydrated pineapple.

I guess my reservations boil down to the fact that most people are idiots and love to blow things out of proportion simply because they haven't yet met their drama quota for the day. I mean, we still have people shitting bricks over non-issues like HFCS and gluten for gods' sakes.
 
Sugar is sugar, but it would be nice to show people how much SHIT is added to processed food. Though, this little distinction on the back label probably wouldn't have much effect.
 
FDA- you have tell people how much natural sugar you add to a product when you already list whats there.... but you don't have to disclose if what you're selling has been genetically modified. Makes perfect sense.
 
FDA- you have tell people how much natural sugar you add to a product when you already list whats there.... but you don't have to disclose if what you're selling has been genetically modified. Makes perfect sense.
Monsanto does plenty of genetic modification, and they also have considerable pull in the FDA.

Whether or not this goes through will depend on which special interest group throws the most money at the FDA, or on who's friends with who there.
 
FDA- you have tell people how much natural sugar you add to a product when you already list whats there.... but you don't have to disclose if what you're selling has been genetically modified. Makes perfect sense.

If you buy it in a store it has been genetically modified in some way... there is your disclosure.😛
 
I mean, we still have people pooping bricks over non-issues like HFCS and gluten for gods' sakes.

I'm allergic to corn & gluten, fwiw (and dairy). So I appreciate the labeling.

Going on a tangent here, the hassle is that not everything has to be labeled either as an ingredient, or as the original source. Corn is currently not on the major allergen lists (dairy, shellfish, peanuts, etc.), which makes it a huge pain to figure out as far as ingredients go. So not only does the packaging not have to say corn as the original source, but for some derivatives of corn, they don't even have to list it on the ingredients list since it can be a type of non-food additive.

Corn is hidden under a lot of different names. Here's a good starter list. Citric acid in commercial products (think soda & candy) is almost always made from corn because it is currently the cheapest source due to government subsidizing. Dextrose, which is used as an anti-caking agent in iodized table salt, is made from corn. Bees are fed high-frucose corn syrup, which makes them produce honey faster, and subsequently gets passed into the final honey product - I have to get the special "raw wildflower" honey, otherwise I get a killer headache from commercially-packaged honey due to the hidden corn ingredient. So I can handle sugar...just not sugar from corn.

My doctor said that sometimes people are born with food allergies, and sometimes people develop food allergies over time, especially from repeated exposure. Since corn, gluten, and dairy are being put into absolutely everything, people are developing food allergies more & more. Part of the reason we are seeing so many people with allergies these days is because of that. Going off gluten was a huge pain in the neck because even deli meat is stuffed with gluten - I have to buy the more expensive gluten-free Boar's Head brand if I want to eat it. They just upped the number of people with a gluten intolerance from 1 in 133 to 1 in 100 recently. 50 years ago, food was food and allergies were a lot more scarce. These days, even something as seemingly simple as a Pop Tart has more ingredients than a chemistry set.
 
I'm allergic to corn & gluten, fwiw (and dairy). So I appreciate the labeling.

Going on a tangent here, the hassle is that not everything has to be labeled either as an ingredient, or as the original source. Corn is currently not on the major allergen lists (dairy, shellfish, peanuts, etc.), which makes it a huge pain to figure out as far as ingredients go. So not only does the packaging not have to say corn as the original source, but for some derivatives of corn, they don't even have to list it on the ingredients list since it can be a type of non-food additive.

Corn is hidden under a lot of different names. Here's a good starter list. Citric acid in commercial products (think soda & candy) is almost always made from corn because it is currently the cheapest source due to government subsidizing. Dextrose, which is used as an anti-caking agent in iodized table salt, is made from corn. Bees are fed high-frucose corn syrup, which makes them produce honey faster, and subsequently gets passed into the final honey product - I have to get the special "raw wildflower" honey, otherwise I get a killer headache from commercially-packaged honey due to the hidden corn ingredient. So I can handle sugar...just not sugar from corn.

My doctor said that sometimes people are born with food allergies, and sometimes people develop food allergies over time, especially from repeated exposure. Since corn, gluten, and dairy are being put into absolutely everything, people are developing food allergies more & more. Part of the reason we are seeing so many people with allergies these days is because of that. Going off gluten was a huge pain in the neck because even deli meat is stuffed with gluten - I have to buy the more expensive gluten-free Boar's Head brand if I want to eat it. They just upped the number of people with a gluten intolerance from 1 in 133 to 1 in 100 recently. 50 years ago, food was food and allergies were a lot more scarce. These days, even something as seemingly simple as a Pop Tart has more ingredients than a chemistry set.

I'm surprised that HFCS triggers your corn allergy. I would have thought it was so processed that the allergens would have been lost in the manufacturing process.
 
I'm allergic to corn & gluten, fwiw (and dairy). So I appreciate the labeling.

Since corn, gluten, and dairy are being put into absolutely everything, people are developing food allergies more & more.

I understand the first bit, in fact my mother is wheat-intolerant, but nowadays there are DROVES of healthy people that are insisting on gluten-free just because gluten-free is the food of the year for gullible health nuts.

As for the second bit... Bread, mostly wheat bread, was absolutely essential in the diet of most of humanity for how many millennia? If that constant exposure to wheat didn't cause food allergies why is it doing so now?
 
On the other hand, I would be interested to know how much sugar they add to, say, dehydrated pineapple.

The GOOD kind doesn't have any added sugar at all, just a little bit of lemon juice as a preservative.

Unfortunately, you can't buy the good kind in the US. It really does taste much, much, much better.
 
I understand the first bit, in fact my mother is wheat-intolerant, but nowadays there are DROVES of healthy people that are insisting on gluten-free just because gluten-free is the food of the year for gullible health nuts.

As for the second bit... Bread, mostly wheat bread, was absolutely essential in the diet of most of humanity for how many millennia? If that constant exposure to wheat didn't cause food allergies why is it doing so now?

Because we keep those with allergies alive, instead of them dying or being ritually killed for either demonic possession or as a sacrifice to the gods. 😉

This is especially true if it's the main source/staple of nutrition, as an allergy to it would almost surely result in a death. Thus, a natural self-selection system was established that prevented, for a great while, any kind of growth in the allergy-susceptible (for there must be a genetic component to it, at least to some degree, I'd reckon).


Also, in no way did grains contribute anything more than a minimal portion of our nutritional intake, if at all, when our ancestors were just barely figuring out how to do much of anything in the wild. It's truly not in our genetics to actually consume it daily; it's sustenance for when things are pretty bad, but doesn't provide much of anything useful, save for quick energy if it can be utilized.

And a lot of "dietary fads" are not really fads at all - the ignorant among us only label it like that because quick diets have come and gone over the years, but a lot of the new concepts on the scene are not actually diets, but a nutritional lifestyle change (you can still be a glutton but change what you stuff down your gullet 😉). This is brought on by a shift in nutritional and exercise science unlike anything we've ever had before - what we know about the world around us and how our body interacts, at the molecular level, to what we do and consume, is changing our outlook on what exactly we need.

And some of us consider it a good thing to try and limit eating things which provide us nothing of value, and focusing on things that are either "less evil" or, if possible, entirely on things that only have a positive nutritional value.

My standpoint: it's all about efficiency. Eating the most effectively, and conducting exercise with the most reward/least time.
Honestly, my go-to "belief" is the combination of Paleo + Crossfit. But I neither participate in a crossfit-dedicated training regimen, nor stick to a Paleo-inspired diet. But I take the concepts to heart and try to incorporate much of the ideas as possible. I can still significantly cut back on carb intake, as an example. I like my grains too much, but, and this is the worst part, I still enjoy them far too much.
I consider Paleo + Crossfit to be "the most efficient" because it's calling upon every genetic memory we have as a species. Focusing our diet and athletic inspirations on what our body experienced when "growing up" will provide for the best health and fitness we can probably provide. We can boost that in various ways, obviously, but the best starting point is THE starting point.

Most people just don't want to "give up" what we have available today, because, we being the almighty humans that we are, the best of the best, should be able to do whatever we damn well please, amirite or amirite? 😉

Some hop on these bandwagons in a fad-like fashion, sure, but many actually follow the original reasons these things come to fruition. Science, it just works. 😛
 
Bees are fed high-frucose corn syrup, which makes them produce honey faster, and subsequently gets passed into the final honey product
As far as I'm aware, that's both true, and not true at the same time. Bees are fed sugar (HFCS or regular sugar; I don't suppose it matters) for a while. The bees need to consume a lot in order to build comb. HOWEVER, you cannot be feeding the bees sugar when they have the frames on their hives that will be used for sale. Every book I have about bees says to feed them in the spring, but if I intend to sell the honey, then I need to remove the sugar feeder prior to installing the frames that will be used for honey production.

So, bees are fed sugar or HFCS. BUT, the honey that is sold is NOT produced by the bees as a result of using that sugar or HFCS.
 
Legislating label requirements is not the way to fix the problem with food in this country... eventually, with enough similar legislation, you end up with the entire means of distributing food controlled by easily exploited bureaucrats.

If you want companies to be more honest about what is in their products, then look at the reason the market is so monopolized and devoid of competition such that they aren't forced to be transparent, not by government force, but by consumer's in the marketplace.
 
*yawn*
Makes no difference to me whether it's added or natural.
I hate people who go "oh this makes sense. Let's make it a LAW!!" 🙄

I generally smirk when I see naturally sugar-laden products labelled as "No Added Sugar". I mentally re-translate to "Plenty of Natural Sugar".
 
Sugar of any kind can be bad.
I am very picky about foods I buy and if the ingredients are not something that I know what it is and would be willing to eat by itself, I don't buy it.
 
I very much agree. It is unbelievable the shit that has sugar (esp. HFCS) added to it.
Cans of Corn for fuck sake. Why do I need sugar in a can of corn??
 
*yawn*
Makes no difference to me whether it's added or natural.
I hate people who go "oh this makes sense. Let's make it a LAW!!" 🙄

I generally smirk when I see naturally sugar-laden products labelled as "No Added Sugar". I mentally re-translate to "Plenty of Natural Sugar".

I generally am against new laws for the sake of saving us from our own stupidities; I am of a Libertarian lean - we own our bodies, we thus have the option to do with them what we please, and face any consequences that such decisions bring about.

However, these FDA mandates don't restrict what we can eat, in fact, they won't change a damn thing except MAYBE hurt the sales of some products. They merely provide more information on the label; imho, those labels are frighteningly barren, considering the amount of knowledge we have regarding nutritional science.
The PUFAs and MUFAs (unsaturated fats), again imho, should be mandatory to list. It would be handy if, in a smaller box like the daily caloric intake or vitamin/mineral info, they even listed exactly WHICH PUFAs and MUFAs are in said product.

For anyone who actually cares to know the specific details of any food item, we have to spend a large amount of time researching - and any prepared foods, it's a crapshoot, if you're able to find any solid information.

Perhaps products could even have a mandatory 2D Barcode of some standard, that, when scanned, they either link to a specific webpage containing every detail one could ever care to read, or even have that generated in the barcode reader.

There's also the concern of shared damages brought about by requiring a lifetime of medical assistance, or otherwise resulting in oneself being a drain on resources.
But we have to figure out something before we finally realize that we can't be so PC, so "morally righteous", and finally decide that anyone who does some known to be damaging thus pays their own way for medical insurance, or pays a higher insurance premium... otherwise, they perish instead of anyone else paying for them.
One very helpful caveat that would appease many if we went this route: if they were able to afford higher premiums/to pay their own costs at the time they decided to continue to indulge in self-harmful behaviors, and can prove they are no longer to afford said costs due to no fault of their own, they may be covered by the majority/government.

But I digress, and I don't care to further expand on something that will never happen anyhow. We're too soft, and thus it is a moot point. 😛
 
I like this idea. I have insulin issues and I buy ice cream that has no sugar added. I was surprised to find out that its possible to make good ice cream (in various flavors) that only have 15g of sugar per serving vs a brand like Ben and Jerry's that has about 50g per serving.

I'd love to see how much sugar is being added to the foods we eat.
 
I like this idea. I have insulin issues and I buy ice cream that has no sugar added. I was surprised to find out that its possible to make good ice cream (in various flavors) that only have 15g of sugar per serving vs a brand like Ben and Jerry's that has about 50g per serving.

I'd love to see how much sugar is being added to the foods we eat.

but Ben & Jerry's is so good, plus they have tons of crazy flavors
 
but Ben & Jerry's is so good, plus they have tons of crazy flavors

OMG I know. That shit is literally a mixture of frozen crack and cream.

So delicious.

I've long come to understand - the more addictively delicious something is, the worse it is for you.

I need to take a closer look at the ice cream aisle again. I've had no sugar added ice creams that were at 5g for a serving, but: 1) they have stuff like sucralose added; 2) said ice cream was of the lighter, more airy variety - not the super-dense and creamy variety frequently found only in pint-sizes, like Ben & Jerry's or Graeter's. That style is my favorite, I have come to dislike the lighter varieties. But I'm shopping for a good ice cream (dense) that is also low sugar.

There are more and more low or zero-sugar foods cropping up, but the main "alternate" versions of foods are still the low-fat or fat-free varieties. Which is annoying, because they typically are even more sugar or carb-rich.
Remove carbs, add protein and fats. I can handle that - lipids have more uses in the body. Excellent energy-density, but also useful for cellular repair and growth.


I don't "need" low-glycemic foods, but I still try to focus on them (and I aim for "gluten-free" or low gluten, but don't like paying more and don't make a huge effort to do so anyhow), mainly because such foods have better nutritional profiles anyhow, AND they digest slowly so energy levels are more stable and you have time to utilize the available energy.
 
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