After decades of lobbying, the U.S. government has finally begun to take action to warn consumers about the dangers of superprocessed foods: your potato chips, granola, cereals, cereals, frozen pizza, and even many store-bought breads.
Just like me Report Last year, there was growing scientific evidence linking this superprocessed food or UPF to diseases of obesity, diabetes and hypertension to depression, anxiety and autoimmune diseases. It is my colleague Marina Bolotnikova that categorizing it exactly as UPF is not perfect and can sometimes be too broad. Explained In December, but the number of consumers is still increasing desire To make it clear about our purchases and diets.
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Earlier this year, in order to combat the burden of these chronic diseases by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under former President Joe Biden Suggested A new policy that requires food producers to add new nutritional labels in front of most packaged foods, warning consumers about the high fat, sodium and sugar content commonly found in UPFS. New secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services division may continue this work; he has Called UPFS”poison” and has promised reforms.
few nation In Latin America and Europe, similar packaging nutrition labels have been introduced. In 2020 Mexico A law is passed that requires warning labels for all packaged foods and beverages; these labels include black stop shape numbers indicating whether the product contains too much sugar, sodium or saturated fat. Chile is the first country to return to by such laws 2012. There are similar ones in the UK system In place, but legally it is not necessary for companies to add warnings to their products.
The U.S. may be late for nutrition games, but the good news is that similar efforts elsewhere have also effectively raised consumer awareness of the nutritional hazards of UPF and forced manufacturers to put pressure on them to make healthier products.
These tags enable consumers to make smarter decisions about their diet without infringing on their rights to what they want. But while nutrition experts welcome the FDA’s proposed policy changes, adding warning labels to packaged goods can relieve the real burden of chronic diseases. To do this, we need systemic changes.
Is the warning label valid?
Many real-life evidence describing the effects of pre-packaging nutrition labeling comes from Latin American countries. They have long been the pioneers of UPF Research and regulation, partly because their chronic disease burden is associated with UPF consumption, and also because of how UPF is spread Launched traditional food,explain Vanessa Coutoa researcher in public health nutrition at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
In about 30 Latin America nation Public health researchers found that this added nutrition warnings before packaging, and found that well-designed labels could help consumers learn more about the products in the products they purchased. “We are seeing people turning to healthier options and avoiding healthy options lower,” he said. Marisa HallAssistant Professor at the School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina. “We also see where labels can help people understand what foods are in and which products are high in content.”
A 2024 study Among nearly 3,000 households in Chile, consumers buy significantly less products, with products marked as high in sugar, calories, sodium and fat estimated to reduce sugar consumption by 36.8%, calorie intake by 23%, 21.9%, sodium by 21.9%, sodium by 15.7%, and saturated fat consumption by 15.7%.
But not all studies have reported these effects. other study In Brazil, it was found that while the label of “Warning: Super Processed Food” can significantly improve consumers’ ability to determine which products are UPF, it has not affected their purchase intentions or perceptions of health.
Another benefit of nutrition labels on packaged foods is that it puts market pressure on UPF manufacturers to make healthier foods, Hall explained. After Chile implemented its warning labeling method, the proportion of UPF products with high sugar content in sugar is from 80% to 60% Products with high sodium content fell from 74% to 27%.
Similar plans in New Zealand and the Netherlands allow companies to display logos indicating whether the product meets certain nutritional requirements and prompts companies to quickly re-engineer the product. A study found that there was a 61% reduction After the introduction of the labeling scheme, the salt in New Zealand cereal products was redeveloped in the Netherlands.
FDA’s Suggested Nutritional labels are different from those used in Latin America. In Chile and Mexico, companies must use bold black stop-shaped icons in the front of the package, which can convey whether the product is rich in fat, sugar or sodium. If the package has three stop signs, it is high in all three aspects.
FDA’s Version Includes small, black and white boxes similar to existing nutrition fact boxes, although they will be placed in the front, they have appeared on the back of the packaged food. These boxes will indicate whether the product contains low, medium or high levels of saturated fat, sodium and added sugar.
Therefore, the label in the United States can indicate that the product has a high salt content but a low sugar content, and then leave it to the consumer to decide whether it is good or bad. Contextualization percentages may be helpful, but comparing such tradeoffs is not always intuitive. “I’m worried that it can be confusing to understand the health of the overall product when it comes to understanding all these different nutrients,” Hall said.
Others are more critical of the FDA’s proposed nutrition labels. Senator Bernie Sanders explain These tags are “sadly weak and must be greatly improved”. He suggested that the UPF warning label should be more like a FDA-regulated warning Label A list of cigarettes that clearly show that smoking can cause fatal lung diseases, heart disease, cataracts, bladder cancer and other diseases. (Earlier this year, a federal judge in Texas Prevent The FDA requires graphical warnings about the health risks of smoking.
Although warning labels raise consumer awareness in the study, this did not translate into overall improved health outcomes. Chile introduced nutrition warning labels in 2012, but obesity rates continue to rise from about 68% In 2010, it reached 79% in 2022. The Chilean government has even taken other measures to reduce UPF consumption; for example, by increasing taxes on sugary beverages from 13% to 18% 2014.
In Mexico, label authorization was introduced in 2020, childhood obesity Rate From 38.2% in 2020 to 37.3% the following year, the number of people with diabetes has been reduced slightly from 15.7% 2020 to 18.2% In 2022.
It may be too early for public health officials to observe improvements in obesity and other chronic morbidities. It is obvious that we will not only need nutrition labels to create a food environment where everyone can eat healthy nutritious foods.
“What else needs to be done to make America healthy againtransparent
Although research from Latin American countries reports that pre-pack warning labels on UPF effectively raise consumer awareness, this is really just a small step in the right direction. To actually reduce UPF consumption and improve health, we will need real systemic change.
more than 20 million Americans live in food deserts and don’t always have access to healthy food. These areas are often Low income and rural There are communities in short supply of food retailers and transportation that cannot get there. Unprocessed or least processed food on average exceeds Double the price According to a study, as UPFS per calories.
True success will require improving health education in schools, improving the quality of school lunches, and ensuring that everyone can actually afford fresh, healthy food – a country where profits have long been prioritized over healthy and safe.
It is unclear what is likely to happen to the FDA’s proposed legislation under the Trump administration. Kennedy seems eager to accept UPFS as part of the Crusader to make the United States healthy again – he currently want to The FDA prohibits the use of certain additives, dyes and chemicals in UPF.
What do experts recommend? Hall believes that in addition to warning labels requiring packaging goods, the FDA also needs to regulate other marketing claims made by UPF companies on their products. For example, many products claim to be “100% all-natural”, and Hall’s research shows that many consumers mistakenly believe the product has no added sugar. But this may be wrong, because there is no “natural” standard or even legal definition.
Nutritional labels on UPF, along with other policy changes (such as banning certain food dyes) are just the beginning. “It took a small step,” Baker said. While she and many hope that Kennedy’s “food is medicine” prospects will cause change, many fear that federal staff and budget cuts in the Trump administration will hamper efforts.
