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‘Lite, ’ ‘ sugar-free ’ not always healthy
Officials warn of misleading labels
Food label definitions
Here are definitions of some
terms used on food labels, as pro
vided by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration.
CHOLESTEROL: Fat-like
substances found in meat, poultry
and dairy products. Cholesterol is
essential to some body functions,
but the body can make what it
needs so the amount in many di
ets is excessive, increasing risk of
heart disease.
EMULSIFIERS: Widely used
in food processing, these stabilize
fat and water mixtures so they
won’t separate. In mayonnaise,
for example, egg yolks emulsify
the oil and lemon juice or vine
gar. In chocolate and margarine,
lecithin, derived from soybeans,
is the emulsifier.
HUMECTANTS: Chemicals
such as glycerol, propylene glycol
and sorbitol that are added to
foods to help retain moisture,
fresh taste and texture. Often
used in candy and shredded coco
nut.
HYDROGENATED and PAR
TIALLY HYDROGENATED:
Labeling terms that describe the
process of adding hydrogen to an
unsaturated fat to make it satu
rated; oils may be hydrogenated
to varying degress to make them
suitable lor use in products such
as margarine. The more an oil is
hydrogenated, the more satu
rated tatty acids it contains.
LIGHT or LITE: Labeling lan
guage that suggests a food is
lower in calorie content, unless
some other meaning is specified
or obvious. A “lite” product in
tended to be useful in weight-re
duction must have no more than
40 calories a serving and no more
than 0.4 calories a gram to be
called “low-calorie.” A “reduced-
calorie” food must be at least one-
third lower in calories than the
food to which it is compared.
Foods naturally low in calories
cannot use these terms. Foods la
beled “diet” or “dietetic” must
meet the requirements for low- or
reduced-calorie foods or be
dearly marked as useful for an
other special dietary purpose.
NATURAL: A term that ap
pears on many products but has
no official definition for FDA-
regulated foods. Natural meats,
however, are minimally proc
essed and contain no artificial fla
vors, colors or preservatives.
SODIUM: A chemical essential
for regulating body fluids and
muscle function, but in excessive
amounts linked with increased
risk of high blood pressure. Food
labeled “sodium-free” must have
less than 5 milligrams per serv
ing; “very low sodium,” 35 milli
grams or less a serving; “reduced
sodium,” the usual level reduced
by 75 percent. Table salt, or so
dium chloride, is one kind of so
dium.
SUGAR-FREE or SUG
ARLESS: Table sugar (sucrose),
fructose and corn syrup are
among the calorie-containing
sweeteners in food. A food la
beled sugar-free may have cal
ories from natural sugars (xylitol,
sorbitol and mannitol), provided
the basis for the claim is ex
plained.
NEW YORK (AP) — “Lite” olive
oil may have no fewer calories, ce
real boasting “all natural fruit fla
vors” may have more salt and color
ing than flavor, and “sugar-free”
snacks may have sweeteners as fat
tening as sugar.
What’s a health-conscious con
sumer to do?
Frank E. Young, who heads the
federal agency that regulates the la
bels on much of our food, can sym-
athize. He’s a doctor, and even he
as trouble.
It’s hard “to read labels and figure
out what to eat,” said Young, com
missioner of the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, which is responsible
for labels on foods not regulated by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Labels on food, he said, are “a relic.”
Statements on food packages by
law must be true, but may not tell
consumers all they want to know.
“Saturated fat is still not listed,
cholesterol is still not listed, and
fiber is still not listed. . . . These are
the nutrients the surgeon general
has told the American public to
watch for when they go shopping,”
said Bruce Silverglade of the Center
for Science in the Public Interest.
Food processors say the problem
is that many consumers aren’t suffi
ciently informed about ingredients
to interpret information already on
labels.
“You get into good food-bad
food, good ingredient-bad ingre
dient, when what you want to look at
is your overall diet,” said Allen Mat-
thys, director of regulatory affairs
for the National Food Processors As
sociation. Its 450 members favor
current regulations making many
nutrition labels voluntary.
“That means you have to give
much more information, you have to
give interpretations of the informa
tion,” Young said.
The FDA was sidetracked from
food label reform by issues such as
AIDS, he said. But labeling will be a
dominant issue this year, and the
agency is considering new regula
tions on fiber and cholesterol.
Silverglade agreed that prospects
for reform dre better. “What’s
changed is that several very impor
tant reports have been issued . . . ad
vising Americans to modify their
diet,” including one by Surgeon
General C. Everett Koop.
Also, consumers “are becoming
increasingly frustrated” with labels,
he said. A coalition of medical, di-
aging and consumer groups is
lobbying for changes this year from
the FDA or Congress.
Food labels could be one of the
greatest measures we could take to
benefit the health of Americans,”
Silverglade said.
Still, Young said, it likely will be
years before consumers see changes.
All food labels must provide the
name of the product; the name and
location of the manufacturer, packer
or distributor; and the net contents
or net weight. But not all foods must
list even the ingredients; the FDA
has a “standard of identity” for
about 300 foods — such as mayon
naise and ketchup — and doesn’t re
quire ingredient lists for products
that fit the standard.
There are two issues the FDA
must consider: nutrition labels, list
ing ingredients in descending order
by weight, and per-serving amounts
of calories, protein, and certain vita
mins and minerals; and health claim
labels.
“Health claims are claims that talk
about the people that eat the food,”
said John L. Stanton, professor of
food marketing research at St. Jo
sephs University in Philadelphia.
“Nutrition claims are claims that are
made about the properties of the
food.”
“We really need a strategy that in
cludes both of them,” Young said.
The FDA has a proposal awaiting
Office of Management and Budget
approval that would regulate health
claims.
Five things would be addressed:
fats and heart disease, fats and can
cer, fiber and cancer, calcium and
osteoporosis, and sodium and hy
pertension. The FDA would come
up with model label statements that
manufacturers could use, or compa
nies could write their own within
certain guidelines.
Supreme Court upholds Dallas dance hall rule
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ruling
there is no “generalized right of so
cial association,” the Supreme Court
said Monday that communities may
protect young teen-agers by banning
anyone over 18 from , some dance
halls.
The court unanimously upheld
such a Dallas ban, saying it does not
violate young people’s right to asso
ciate with whom they please.
Although the word “association”
does not appear in the Constitution,
a long series of Supreme Court deci
sions recognized such a right — in
cluding political and familial associa
tions.
But writing for the court Monday,
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
said, “We do not think the Constitu
tion recognizes a generalized right
of social association that includes
chance encounters in dance halls.”
In other matters, the court:
• Made it significantly easier for
law enforcement officials to ques
tion, search and arrest air travelers
suspected of smuggling drugs.
The court’s 7-2 decision in a case
from Hawaii upheld, as had pre
vious high court rulings, the use of a
drug courier “profile” that drug en
forcement agents use to identify
likely smugglers.
• Ruled, by a 6-3 vote in a Missis
sippi case, that state courts lack the
authority to approve adoptions of
Indian babies by non-Indians even
when the natural parents leave the
reservation to give up the children.
Sending the case back to a tribal
court for more study, the justices
said tribal rights and Indian culture
take precedence over individual
rights in such circumstances.
• Refused to scuttle the Iran-
Contra trial of Oliver North or block
the trials of two of his co-defendants.
• Refused to revive a “clergy mal
practice” lawsuit stemming from the
1979 suicide of a young California
man counseled by pastors of his
church.
• Agreed to decide whether a
Baltimore woman may be jailed for
refusing to reveal the whereabouts
of her young son, whom authorities
fear may be dead.
• Refused to throw out, or order
a federal appeals court to consider
throwing out, an indictment charg
ing New York hotel owners Harry
and Leona Helmsley with federal in
come tax evasion.
• Let stand in a case from Wash
ington state a ruling that allows
widespread drug testing of workers
in the nuclear power industry.
• Left intact a ruling that city po
lice officers in Washington Town
ship, N.J., may be required to un
dergo both random drug tests and
tests that are part of annual physical
examinations.
In the dance hall case, a state
court had struck down a Dallas ordi
nance licensing certain businesses on
condition that only those aged 14 to
18 be admitted as patrons.
The ordinance was challenged by
Charles M. Stanglin, who operates
the Twilight Skating Rink.
He divided the floor of his skating
rink so that patrons dance or skate to
the same music in full view of one
another. People over 18 can be ad
mitted to the skating rink but not to
the dance hall.
The court said dance hall gather
ings “might be described as ‘associa-
tional’ in common parlance, but they
simply do not involve the sort of ex
pressive association that the (Consti
tution’s) First Amendment has been
held to protect.”
Police search for suspects
in Navasota store robbery
Marvin’s Drive-In Grocery,
1600 E. Washington St. in Nava
sota, was robbed Jan. 29.
The suspects entered, stole a
bank bag containing checks and
cash, and then stole a coffee can
containing $100 worth of nick
els.
No evidence has been found,
but investigators believe more
than one person was involved and
that they were familiar with the
operations of the store.
If you have any information
regarding this crime, contact
Crime Stoppers at 775-TIPS.
Once called, Crime Stoppers will
issue a special coded number to
protect the caller’s identity.
If the call leads to an arrest and
STOPPER
775-TIPS
grand jury indictment, Ciime
Stoppers will pay the caller up to
$1,000.
Crime Stoppers also pays cash
for information regarding any
felony crime or the whereabouts
of any wanted fugitive.
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2002 E 29lh 775-2463
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MED SCHOOL
All you wanted to know and more!
Old AGS now students at
Baylor College of
Medicine in Houston
Present an information BLITZ
Wednesday, April 5th
308 Rudder 7:00 PM
SOCIAL UFE/XXJSTON
CoSponsored by
^PrejMed/Pr^Dent^ocietj^a^kjgha^giton^Delt^
O
For Formal Evenings
Complete Selection
of
Evening Formals
Layaway Now !
•Th
bridal Boutique
formals and evening wear c . „
Park Place Plaza •Texas Ave. S. at Southwest Parkway-College StatiOKj
History, Culture, and
Future Prospects
Monday. April 3, 1989
7:30 P.M.
Room 206 MSC
Guest speakers:
Dr. Patricia Stranahan, Associate Pro
fessor of Hisfory.Texas A&M.
The Honorable Seun£ Ho, Consul General,
Consulate General of the Republic of
Korea in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Wonmo Don£, Director of Asian Study
Program, and Associate Professor of
Political Science, Southern Methodist
University.
MSC JORDAN INSTITUTE FOR
INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS