TThe foods we eat impact every aspect of our lives and our bodies: our hormones, brain chemistry, immune system, microbiome; The list goes on. As consumers, we deserve the right to easily understand the nutritional value of our food in order to make informed decisions about what we consume and how it will impact our health and well-being. This is especially important when it comes to ingredients that are harmful when consumed in excess, such as sugar. As researchers in functional medicine, longevity, AI and nutrition, as well as inventors of health-improving and life-saving solutions, we dedicate our professional lives to improving the health and well-being of millions of people around the world. And while we applaud the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for taking important steps to approve mandatory front-of-package labeling for packaged foods in the U.S., this is a change that cannot come soon enough. Everyone’s health depends on it.
O The FDA recommends adults consume no more than 50 grams of added sugar per day (based on a 2,000-calorie diet), but the average American consumes closer to one third of a pound of sugar daily, more than three times the recommended amount. To put this into perspective, the average American consumes over 100 pounds of sugar per person per year. With so much sugar consumption, it’s no wonder that 49% of American adults are diabetic or pre-diabetic. The worst part is that much of the sugar we consume occurs without us realizing it. There are more than 60 different ways to identify sugar on nutrition labels, making it unfairly complicated for consumers to try to regulate their sugar intake.
Extensive academic research published in peer-reviewed medical journals supports the common knowledge that excessive sugar consumption can lead to serious health problems. chronic conditionslike this fatigue, anxiety, memory loss, ADHDand even for a shorter life.
Seventy-four percent of packaged foods in the US contain added sugar, including seemingly healthy foods such as salad dressing, coleslaw and even baked beans, marinades and yogurt; some sweetened yogurts contains more sugar than a can of soda. The fact that sugar is so biologically addictive – studies indicate that it is eight times more addictive than cocaine – makes the reality that it is hidden in so many foods even more harmful. Most of us are addicted to sugar and we don’t even know it.
This cycle of addiction is relentless and difficult to break: We eat foods with sugar, which triggers a spike in blood sugar, which lights up the pleasure center in our brain. When the inevitable sugar crash occurs, we seek that spike again in the form of craving more sugar. Without easily discernible food labeling, consumers unknowingly create this cycle within their own bodies, even when they mistakenly think the foods they buy are healthy.
See more information: How the world got addicted to sugar
In many countries, packaged food labels serve a similar function to cigarette packaging labels: to warn consumers about risks. In Chile, a policy of “loud” labels on the front of sugary drinks has drastically reduced the consumption of these drinks. In Israel, a front-of-package labeling system, where a red label indicates an item high in sugar, led to significant positive changes in 76% of the population’s food purchasing habits. We are excited to see what a similar program in the US would yield.
Those lobbying in the US against this front-of-package change, unsurprisingly, have a vested interest in the continued popularity of their products. In February 2023 joint filing, the country’s largest cereal producers threatened legal action after proposed changes would not allow them to label products as “healthy” if they did not meet nutritional standards. The suggested front-of-package change would rightly prevent many cereals on the market with excess sugar from calling themselves “healthy.”
This dynamic is similar to the changes introduced in cigarette advertising in the 20th century. In the 1940s, a famous Camel cigarette campaign featured the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels.” In 1969, a mandatory warning label was added to cigarettes, giving consumers clearer access to information about risks, allowing them to make more informed choices about their health. Today, the percentage of Americans who smoke is 11%, compared to almost 50% back when “more doctors smoked Camels.” Life expectancy has increased almost 11 years in this period of time as well, and the decrease in smoking certainly contributed.
While front labeling on packaged foods is a crucial first step towards a healthier society, education and awareness alone will only get us so far. To drive an even more significant change in the way most Americans eat, a change that will lead to a healthier population, we must also encourage the widespread production and distribution of healthier alternatives. These alternatives – a cookie packed with healthier ingredients, for example – should be just as delicious and readily available as those loaded with sugar. The recently announced new standards by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) limiting added sugars in school meals can go a long way toward making healthier alternatives available, especially as children form their eating habits. For the rest of us, though, front-of-package labeling is an important step in this journey toward national well-being and will also encourage producers to create healthier options for consumers; Readily available healthier alternatives is the second step.
FDA leadership by ensuring high sugar labeling on packaged foods could raise awareness and reduce the negative impacts of sugar and help millions of people live longer, healthier lives. This change would help us make more informed choices about our diet and our health. We believe it is our right, and that of every American, to have clear and visible information about the sugar content of the foods we consume in order to make more informed decisions.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
