Thursday, March 24, 2011

Week 7: Health Claims

FDA Specifications for Health Claims and Descriptive Terms

The FDA provides guidelines about the claims and descriptions manufacturers may use in food labeling to promote their products:

Take a look at the following product descriptions. Have you come across this type of wording? Any food decisions you have made that uses some of these terms? Have they changed the food purchases you have made?

Claim Requirements that must be met before using the claim in food labeling
Fat-Free Less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving, with no added fat or oil
Low fat 3 grams or less of fat per serving
Less fat 25% or less fat than the comparison food
Saturated Fat Free Less than 0.5 grams of saturated fat and 0.5 grams of trans-fatty acids per serving
Cholesterol-Free Less than 2 mg cholesterol per serving, and 2 grams or less saturated fat per serving
Low Cholesterol 20 mg or less cholesterol per serving and 2 grams or less saturated fat per serving
Reduced Calorie At least 25% fewer calories per serving than the comparison food
Low Calorie 40 calories or less per serving
Extra Lean Less than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol per (100 gram) serving of meat, poultry or seafood
Lean Less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 g of saturated fat, and 95 mg of cholesterol per (100 gram) serving of meat, poultry or seafood
Light (fat) 50% or less of the fat than in the comparison food (ex: 50% less fat than our regular cheese)
Light (calories) 1/3 fewer calories than the comparison food
High-Fiber 5 grams or more fiber per serving
Sugar-Free Less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving
Sodium-Free or Salt-Free Less than 5 mg of sodium per serving
Low Sodium 140 mg or less per serving
Very Low Sodium 35 mg or less per serving
Healthy A food low in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and contains at least 10% of the Daily Values for vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein or fiber.
"High", "Rich in" or "Excellent Source" 20% or more of the Daily Value for a given nutrient per serving
"Less", "Fewer" or
"Reduced"
At least 25% less of a given nutrient or calories than the comparison food
"Low", "Little", "Few", or "Low Source of" An amount that would allow frequent consumption of the food without exceeding the Daily Value for the nutrient – but can only make the claim as it applies to all similar foods
"Good Source Of", "More", or "Added" The food provides 10% more of the Daily Value for a given nutrient than the comparison food

The assignment attached to this week's piece is as follows: Find something in your house, at the store or in school that uses some of the wording you see above. 

Does the Health Claim seem reasonable for the product? For example:  Would you agree with "Oreos - Good source of calcium" ?? 
Do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? Use the 'comment' section below to share your findings.



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21 comments:

  1. the product that i am using is lactaid milk first let me say that i love lactaid milk. but any who on the carton its says that calcium enriched. 100% lactose free. and 50% daily value calcium per serving. i think that everything said on the milk carton is true plus there is no draw backs to this milk its delicious and you can use it where ever you use milk and in my opinion there its more flavorful and easy to drink and also very deliightful

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  2. The Item that I was consuming was a Nutri Grain bar. It claims to not have high fructose corn syrup and 0.5g SAT FAT, and 11 grams of sugars. I don’t necessarily believe in the fact that it has 11g of sugars because the filling of the bar is way too sweet. That fact of no use of corn syrup isn’t near the truth either because on the back of the label it said one of the ingredients was corn syrup for the filling. Which leaves me wondering if the 0.5g of SAT FAT is true but many items of the market are labeled healthy, but are ruined by adding bad ingredients such as corn syrup or bad fats for the body.

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  3. The product that I researched was 'Thomas' Hearty Muffins' English muffins. The claim that is written on the package is “An Excellent Source of”. Each muffin is said to have multi-grain fiber. The highlighted facts of this product are that it has 110 calories, 0g Trans fat, and 9g of fiber. There is also on drawback to this “Fiber Goodness”. This drawback is that this sodium and total carbohydrate content per muffin. Each muffin contains 210mg and the amount of total carbohydrates is 28g.On the other hand, I don't know one person who would eat an English muffin plain. As advertised on the package a slice of butter is on a slice of the muffin and also written on the back a description says “Just add your favorite topping, whether it's butter, margarine, jelly, cream cheese, or even peanut butter...” . These toppings are bound to have added calories that aren't need by the person wanting to make a healthy choice by buying this product. Although, there are some negatives and positives of this product like many others, in this situation the benefits of this product do outweigh the drawbacks.

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  4. Rummaging through my fridge I found "Wishbone Light Parmesan Peppercorn Ranch, with 1/3 fewer calories and 1/2 the fat." Flipping over the bottle is a little description promising to help absorb vitamin A and E from salad, but in the nutrition facts there is 0% of vitamin A and 8% of vitamin E, how am I going to get the vitamin A if there is none, included with the dressing, how is it going to spontaneously make vitamin A in the salad? Next comes the calories and fat calories, for the regular calories it's 60, and the fat calories are 45, not too bad in my opinion. So I wanted to compare the fats to another bottle of ranch in my refrigerator, so I took out "Kraft's Ranch Lite" and compare the two, Kraft's had more 10 calories than the Wishbone's, and five less fat calories than Wishbone's. Not a huge difference, but a noticeable one. I'm just going to assume that Fat Calories are flavor, so Wishbone won the flavor battle, and the regular calorie battle as well. So overall it had lower calories, but a little bit more of a flavor. Putting the Kraft bottle away I read another little mini bubble of information and it said it had no high fructose corn syrup, and after a thorough investigation of the ingredients section, this was true. Everything else was pretty much normal, no ridiculously low or high amounts of anything was shown in the nutrition facts section, nothing strange in the ingredients section either. I'd say that the statement is true, it has less calories than the Kraft bottle of regular ranch, and it had more flavor added to it. I'd say the benefits do outweigh the small defects, that are probably not mentioned on the bottle, but overall the health claim is reasonable for the product, and it is indeed better than some salad dressing I use.

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  5. The product I’m using is a 2% low fat Milk. I think it’s better than using a non-low fat milk because it’s healthier and tastes the same as a regular gallon of milk. I have been drinking a 2% low fat milk for about two years, and when I drink the regular I find no difference on both. I don’t think there are any drawbacks because it’s so delicious and healthy. It’s also rich in protein and calcium.

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  6. The product i'm using is a "light" salad dressing. I feel it is healthier than the regular salad dressing because Salad dressing is a very fating product. The Light salad dressing does not have as much flavor to me i love Ranch dressing then when i tried the light it just didn't seem to have the same creamy taste as usual. But it is healthier for you.

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  7. The food item I did this assignment on was La Yogurt Probiotic original low fat yogurt. This health claim is appropriate for this because in order to be low fat it needs to contain less than 3 grams of fat per serving and it contains 1.5 grams of fat per serving. The health benefits definitely outweigh the drawbacks. eating low fat foods reduces your risk of heart disease. Also fat free yogurt taste no different than regular yogurt.

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  8. The product that i am using is Black eye Peas in a can I enjoy eating Black eye Peas weather Its out of can or Homemade. This can claims that there is 0g of fat in the whole can. but in order to say that there has to be less than .5 of a gram per serving. The can also says that it has beacon in it and beacon does have a lot of fat in it. I also tried this product and you can taste the beacon in it for sure. How ever beans are not a fatty food but do carry a lot of protein.

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  9. The product I used was Kellogg's Honey Nut Cheerios this product claims to have low fat, good source of calcium, and excellent source of iron. Cheerios have 2% percent of total fat with and without milk but in the ingredients states Canola and/or Rice Bran oil. Honey Nut Cheerios provides 10% calcium without milk and 25% with milk. Honey nut Cheerios also has 25% percent of iron with and without milk. So I do agree with some of the health claims of Honey nut Cheerios, I am just not sure about 'low fat'.

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  10. The item I’m using is “Lactaid 2% MILKFAT” It says 38% Less fat than whole milk. Yes the health claim seems reasonable for the product because it not being actual milk, it shouldn’t contain as much fat as milk. When I purchased this item, I wasn’t really paying much attention to the 38% less fat part. I paid more attention to the “lactose free” part, since me & my sister both can’t have too much lactose. I would agree that Lactaid is a better choice than regular milk, because it’s not as fatty.

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  11. The product I chose was eggs, the research indicates that it is a healthy food. One egg contains 13 essential vitamins and minerals. An egg also includes the bonus of sporting 6 grams of high-quality protein, zinc and two nutrients- lutein and zeaxanthin, that have been shown to benefit eye heath. It contains at least 10% of the daily values for vitamin A, and vitamin B. Also eggs promote healthy hair and nails because of their high sulphur. Eggs are great for the eyes and they can prevent macular degeneration. As the research says, eggs contains the right kind of fat. One egg contains just 5 grams of fat and only 1.5 grams of that is saturated fats. This product contains 70 calories and 0 grams trans fat. I believe eggs are one the healthiest breakfast foods.

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  12. The product that I am using is Town House Flatbread Crisps, Sea Salt and Olive Oil, this product states that Dietary Fiber, Sugar, Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Cholesterol, and Sodium is less than certain about. This product would be considered "Low" or "Low source of" because the product has a percent Daily Value. Sodium in the product would b considered Low because it does not contain more than 140mg. This product does not contain Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, nor Iron. All in all this product is not the healthiest to consume.

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  13. i did my assignment on Nestle Nesquik low-fat Chocolate milk. Even though I personally don't think it tastes that good, i find it healthy. It is low-fat because there is only 2.5g of fat per serving, which is less than the required amount to be low-fat. There 10% of vitamin a and 25% of vitamn D. There is also 8g of protein and only 10 mg of cholesterol. Even though it doesnt taste the best, this beverage is pretty healthy.

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  14. The product i chose was Cocoa krispies. This cereal claims to have 25% of daily value of antioxidants and nutrients.Cocoa krispies also say that it contains vitamins A, B, C, and E. I believe this statment with the exception of .5 grams of saturated fat. Their cereal has 12 grams of sugar so the ammount of fat stated is hard to believe, but other than the high sugar cocoa krispies has no corn syrup. It does have high carbohydrates and little protein, but its claim on vitamins and, antioxidants, and nutrients are supported by the nutrition label.

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  15. The product that i'm going to use is Fat free chocolate milk.There is 130 calories in this product.It has 8gram of protein like vitamin A,C,and D. Theres 130mg of sodium,and 22grams of suger which makes it not that healthy.

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  16. The food item I'm using is Yoplait light yogurt. This yogurt is considered to be 'light' because the yogurt has 70 calories less than the normal yoplait yogurt. Also, there is 0 grams of total fat. I support the labling of this product because not only is yogurt known to have serious health benefits, but also there is no fat and only 100 calories per serving.

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  17. The product I am using is V8. V8 is fat-free because it is 100 percent vegetable juice. V8 is considered a healthy source because it is low in saturated fat. Also, V8 is cholesterol-free drink because it has no cholesterol.

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  18. I use fat free turkey hill frozen yogurt. I don't think there's any drawbacks from using it because its only healthy. It's a lot healthier than ice cream and it tastes exactly the same. It's also low on carbs and higher on protein.

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  20. I drink a juice that's called Naked. The bottle says that there is no sugar add but we all should know that there are natural sugars from the fruit. The bottle also says it is 100% juice which is true if you read the ingredients label. There are 36g of carbohydrates (the fruit), 300mg of potassium which s great, 20mg sodium, 0g of fiber (which would come from the skin and pulp of the fruit), and 1g of protein. In my opinion Naked is probably one of the healthiest juices made because it is 100% juice (no artificial flavoring/ingredients). The labels on Naked could change because it has more than just fruits if I'm not mistaking there are vegetable ones too. I agree with the claims made by the product and think it should also say "a great source of potassium."

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  21. The item i am eating right now is a blueberry nutri-grain bar. On the front of the wrapper it says no high fructose corn syrup but it only has 10 grams of sugar so what makes it so sweet? I do not believe this claim. Also on the wrapper it states that this product is made with real fruit and whole grains but then it says in dark letters so you can barely see naturally and ARTIFICIALLY flavored and on ingredient i saw that was used in artificial flavored sweetener is high fructose corn syrup. With this thought it leads me to think that there is more sugar in this cereal then portrayed.

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