"Smart Choice" -- sawdust as a whole grain food.

From the Happy Healthy Long Life blog for September 2, 2009 -- http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/

Want a laugh? Read "For Your Health, Froot Loops" by William Neumann in the September 4, 2009 NYT. It would funny if it wasn't so pathetic-sad-disappointing-and-transparent. So now, Froot Loops, and a whole host of other garbage junk food will have a big bright green Smart Choices checkmark prominently stamped on its packaging. Oh, that's just the kind of helpful information we need!

Here are some tidbits from the article:

1. A new food-labeling campaign called Smart Choices, backed by most of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, is “designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices.”

2. The green checkmark label that is starting to show up on store shelves will appear on hundreds of packages, including — to the surprise of many nutritionists — sugar-laden cereals like Cocoa Krispies and Froot Loops.

3. “The checkmark means the food item is a ‘better for you’ product, as opposed to having an x on it saying ‘Don’t eat this,’ ” Dr. Eileen Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices board and the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University said.


“Consumers are smart enough to deduce that if it doesn’t have the checkmark, by implication it’s not a ‘better for you’ product. They want to have a choice. They don’t want to be told ‘You must do this.’ ”


4. Froot Loops qualifies for the label because it meets standards set by the Smart Choices Program for fiber and Vitamins A and C, and because it does not exceed limits on fat, sodium and sugar. It contains the maximum amount of sugar allowed under the program for cereals, 12 grams per serving, which in the case of Froot Loops is 41 percent of the product, measured by weight. That is more sugar than in many popular brands of cookies.

5. Ten companies have signed up for the Smart Choices program so far, including Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, ConAgra Foods, Unilever, General Mills, PepsiCo and Tyson Foods. Companies that participate pay up to $100,000 a year to the program, with the fee based on total sales of its products that bear the seal.

6. Michael R. Taylor, a senior F.D.A. adviser, said the agency was concerned that sugar-laden cereals and high-fat foods would bear a label that tells consumers they were nutritionally superior.

7. Despite federal guidelines favoring whole grains, the criteria allow breads made with no whole grains to get the seal if they have added nutrients.

“You could start out with some sawdust, add calcium or Vitamin A and meet the criteria,” Mr. Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said.

8. "The object of this is to make highly processed foods appear as healthful as unprocessed foods, which they are not,” said Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University.

You're so cynical!

What, you don't think these fine upstanding Corporations have our best interests at heart? BTW, what wine would you pair with Fruit Loops?

Sorry, I misspelled it. It's "Froot Loops." Heaven forbid there'd be any actual fruit involved.

The Janitor suggested:

Lavradores de Feitoria 2003 "Três Bagos" Douro ($16.99)

or

Las Rocas de San Alejandro 2004 Calatayud Garnacha ($10)

See http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvis ... 0331.phtml

Thanks for chiming in, Bob.

I went and checked out their site and 12 g. of added sugar is indeed "acceptable" for breakfast cereal and milk products. The rationale appears to be that this "enhances the palatability" of such products. They actually show the math on how this is acceptable and I guess, if you were really paying attention to everything you ate and balanced those products with others that are low in calories and sugars, then you could eat your one serving per day without adverse consequences. Of course, everyone knows that the majority of people won't pay attention to balancing out the Froot Loops with healthier things and will instead have two glasses of 12 g./cup "Smart Choice" chocolate milk to go with their cereal.

I don't think you could have a serving of Froot Loops and also meet the new American Heart Association standards for reducing added sugar from your diet. See this extract from the Happy Healthy Long Life blog:

The American Heart Association Says Cut the Sugar


Last week the AHA issued a statement recommending that Americans drastically limit their sugar intake. The average intake from 2002-2004 was about 22.2 tsp. or 355 empty calories. These are true triglyceride boosters! The statement was published online in Circulation on August 24, 2009, and will appear in print on Sept. 15, 2009. Click here for the summary. Click here for the Circulation article.

The AHA points out that excessive sugar consumption (and they include that baddy high-fructose corn syrup) is linked to "several metabolic abnormalities and adverse health conditions". And they make specific mention of the effect of diets high in sucrose, glucose, fructose--and low in fiber--on triglycerides.


"In summary, although the mechanisms are unclear, relative to other carbohydrates sources, sugar intake appears to be associated with increased triglyceride levels, a known risk factor for coronary heart disease."

"In some, but not all studies, a higher consumption of high-sugar beverages and foods is associated with evidence of increased inflammation and oxidative stress."


Here's what the AHA recommends:

Women: No more than 100 calories a day of added sugar (we're talking a half a cookie here)
Men: No more than 150 calories a day of added sugar.

The September 2, 2009 blog is a comprehensive review of current studies on triglyceride levels, arguing that one should try to get them below 80 in the interest of good heart health.

See http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/hap ... rides.html

She did a wonderful job in that post.