New nutrition labels listing added sugars on packaged foods and drinks could prevent nearly a million cases of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes in the United States and save tens of billions of dollars in health care costs, a new study says.
New nutrition labels listing added sugars on packaged foods and drinks could prevent nearly a million cases of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes in the United States and save tens of billions of dollars in health care costs, a new study says.
And if, as expected, the labels also prompt manufacturers to cut down on the amount of sugar they add, the benefits could be double, according to the study published Monday in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.
The Food and Drug Administration announced an updated Nutrition Facts label – the familiar black-and-white box that lists serving size, calories and more – in 2016. The new label, which included added sugars, originally was to be phased in starting last year. But the FDA gave food manufacturers an extension: Those with $10 million or more in annual sales aren't required to switch to the new label until 2020; manufacturers with less than $10 million have until 2021 to comply.
The old nutrition labels lumped all kinds of sugar into the same category. The new labels will help people distinguish naturally occurring sugars – such as the fructose in fruit or the lactose in milk – from added sugars, which show up on ingredient labels with names such as high fructose corn syrup, dextrose or fruit juice.
Read more at American Heart Association
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