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MONDAY, April 15, 2019 (HealthDay News) – New Nutrition Facts Label Highlighting Added Amounts of Sugars in Food Could Prevent Nearly One Million Cases of Heart Disease and Type 2 Diabetes, New Study Finds .
The new label, first introduced by the US Food and Drug Administration in May 2016, adds a new line in the Total Carbohydrates category that details the amount of sugar added to sugars already contained in a food product.
If consumers had access to this new label, their food choices could prevent more than 350,000 cases of heart disease and nearly 600,000 cases of type 2 diabetes over the next two decades, researchers predicted using a computer model. .
This would save the United States $ 31 billion in health care costs, as well as $ 62 billion in productivity and other societal costs, said senior researcher Renata Micha. She is an Associate Professor of Research at the Faculty of Science and Nutrition Policy at Tufts University, Boston.
These effects could be even greater if the new nutrition label encouraged food manufacturers to reduce the amount of sugar they added to products, Micha said.
"If this added sugar label encouraged the food industry to reformulate even a portion of its products to contain fewer added sugars, these health and financial benefits would be doubled, which would have an impact." bewildering, "said Micha.
Added sugars account for more than 15% of Americans' total daily calories, exceeding the recommended level of less than 10%, researchers said in briefing notes.
It can be difficult to recognize added sugars by looking at the list of ingredients on a label, says the US Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molbades, raw sugar and sucrose are just some of the many different ingredients which contribute to the addition of sugars in foods, notes the CDC.
To simplify things for consumers, the FDA has proposed a new line on the Nutrition Facts label that totals all these sources of added sugar. The line would indicate the number of grams of sugar added and the percentage that they contribute to the daily calories of an average person.
Unfortunately, the FDA has delayed the establishment of the label until 2020, said Micha.
"What these results tell us is that it is necessary to implement this label in a timely manner," Micha said.
For this study, Micha and colleagues used an already validated model that takes into account a variety of information, including demographic data, risk factors, dietary habits, and illness, to project the impact of the new Nutrition Facts label. on consumer food choices. , their long-term health and the economic cost of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Previous studies have shown that better information helps consumers make smarter food choices, said Micha and his team. For example, the labeling of trans fats has encouraged people to avoid products rich in these very unhealthy fats, which has prompted the food industry to remove them from the products.
Dr. Reshmi Srinath, director of the Mount Sinai weight and metabolism management program in New York, expects this to happen if people have better information on added sugars.
"From my experience, people are now more aware of their sugar intake, are examining food labels and want to make healthier food choices.A clear labeling of sugar content is essential to help people make these good choices, "said Srinath, badistant professor. with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Micha said the most striking conclusion of the study came when researchers predicted what could happen if the food industry reacted to the new label by reducing the amount of added sugars in the products.
Even a partial response from the industry could result in about 700,000 less cases of heart disease and 1.2 million fewer cases of type 2 diabetes over the next 20 years, the model says.
"The industry should be part of the solution," Micha said. "We found that even when we had taken into account even a modest reformulation of the industry, we could get maximum gain in terms of health and economic."
The new study was published April 15 in the journal circulation.
More information
The US Food and Drug Administration has an example of the proposed update of the Nutrition Facts label.
SOURCES: Renata Micha, R.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Research, School of Science and Nutrition Policy, Tufts University, Boston; Reshmi Srinath, M.D., director of the Mount Sinai Weights and Metabolism Program, New York; April 15, 2019, circulation
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