Food Labeling: Fat Chance?
More than 1.2 million Americans will have heart attacks this year, and about 500,000 will die from heart disease. That death toll will exceed, by about 75,000, the total number of battle deaths suffered by U.S. servicemen in all of this century’s wars. Can the appalling incidence of heart disease and related premature deaths be significantly reduced? They can, if people are ready to do a little more to take better care of themselves.
For example, a new report prepared by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s National Cholesterol Education Program concludes that heart disease could be reduced by 20% if Americans simply ate less fats. That’s not a new idea. What gives it special heft is that this time it comes endorsed by the Food and Drug Administration, the American Medical Assn., the American College of Physicians and more than 30 other major health groups. That’s about as close to an expression of unanimous opinion as the medical community is likely to produce.
A key point of the report is that everyone from the age of 2 up, whether at known risk of heart disease or not, would benefit by cutting down on dietary fats and cholesterol. Specifically, no more than 30% of calories eaten should come from fats of all kinds. And saturated fats, the kind found in butter, red meat, ice cream and tropical oils, shouldn’t exceed 10% of calories consumed. A basic aim is to lower blood cholesterol levels, which the report says would have “unequivocal benefits” in reducing heart disease.
With a little information people can do a lot to limit dietary fats and reduce heart disease risks. One essential way of providing that data, the report emphasizes, is with expanded food labeling: Just how much total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and calories are there in a can of chili, a take-out pizza, a frozen chicken dinner? An increasing number of food manufacturers and restaurants are discovering the marketing value of providing such information; health sells. Diet isn’t the whole answer to lowering heart disease risks; eliminating smoking, controlling high blood pressure, getting some exercise are all important. But diet is clearly a major component, and knowing more about what’s in the food we eat is clearly a vital step toward permitting healthier choices.
