Posted May 2015

Nicole Dingels-McMath MS, RD, LD
Registered Dietitian
COO/Co-Founder
Torch Fitness and Nutrition, LLC
678.492.3147
torchfitnessandnutrition.com
nicole@@torchfitnessandnutrition

 

Nicole received her education at Georgia State University and began working in a biochemistry lab as an undergraduate where she learned about the influence of diet on genetics, metabolism and various diseases. She went on to complete her Master’s degree in Nutritional Biochemistry and Urban Community Nutrition. Nicole graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Didactic Program in Dietetics, receiving several awards for her research and hard work including the 1st Place Poster and Provost Award at the Undergraduate Research Conference, Johnnie W. Prothro Academic Excellence Award and a scholarship from the Greater Atlanta Dietetic Foundation.

____________________________

FDA’s Added Sugar Labeling Proposal

Current nutrition labels list both naturally occurring sugars and added sugars all under sugar. Naturally occurring sugars are found in fruits and milk products whereas added sugars are the ones added to a food or drink (sugar cane, raw sugar, brown sugar, honey, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose and so on).

To better illustrate how this works let's consider the following scenario:
In your search for that healthy snack or quick meal, you find a granola bar that says “made with Real Fruit”. Seeing this suggests it must be a healthier option. The nutrition label indicates that there are 18 grams of sugar in each bar. Your question... How much of this sugar is actually coming from the fruit and how much is coming from added sugars (fructose, raw sugar, etc)?

The only way to estimate where the 18 grams of sugar is coming from is by looking at the ingredients. Ingredients are listed in descending order by gram weight. The fruit in our granola bar is blueberries, listed towards the end of the ingredient list whereas honey and brown sugar are near the top. We can assume the majority of the sugar in this granola bar is not natural yet we cannot determine exactly how much. Let’s say the bar contains 12 grams of added sugar and 6 grams of natural sugar. Those 12 grams of added sugar is equivalent to adding a tablespoon of sugar to your granola bar.

In conclusion, if you're watching your sugar intake it is possible you are consuming much more than you think. The FDA has proposed updated nutritional labelling which would require food manufacturers to list the total sugars and added sugars allowing us to effectively track how much added sugar we are truly consuming. Several organizations, including The American Heart Association and the Diabetes Association, recommend we keep our daily added sugar intake at less than 9 teaspoons and 6 teaspoons for men and women respectively. The process will take some time so we can hope/expect to see the new labels in the next two or three years. Stay tuned...