Healthier Items in Store for Shoppers

Circa 1920. Sugar is categorized as a food group.

Circa 1940. There are eight food groups, including separate groupings for eggs, butter and margarine.

Circa 1960. The four basic foods group reigns supreme. Just about every meal contains meat and dairy products.

Enter 1993. Gone are meat and potatoes as a balanced meal. Here to stay are the new health-giving foods that should make up the bulk of our diet: bread, cereal, rice, pasta, legumes, vegetables and fruit. Meat, dairy products, fats and sugars should be eaten sparingly.

As we approach the turn of the century, healthy eating is no longer a fad, but a fact of life. In 1993, watch grocery stores push high-fat products out of the way to make room for fat-free and organic foods, and convenience manufacturers fill those shelves with healthy quickly prepared meals. At the same time, restaurants will begin offering more low-fat entree options than any time in history.

Thanks to some federal changes, you’ll even know more about what you’re eating and what to eat more of. The new food labeling law requires companies to make labels more thorough and easily understood. You’ll also be hearing a lot about the new USDA food pyramid, which replaces the four basic foods group, and the importance of adequate fruit and vegetable consumption.

Over the next year, you’ll see a lot of changes at your local grocery store as more and more shelf space is taken up by fat-free and organic products. Manufacturers are scrambling to add to the burgeoning line of nonfat dairy products such as cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese and cheese and other formerly high fat foods like mayonnaise, which also comes fat-free now.

You’ll even see more changes in the frozen food section where ice cream once took up row after row, says Sharon Rank, a Laguna Beach-based nutrition consultant to the food and restaurant industries. “Visit this aisle in the future, and you’re likely to see a lot of frozen yogurt and low-fat desserts.”

You’ve probably noticed the word “organic” popping up on packages, and you’re likely to see more of it. There are now organic baby foods, organic cereals and other organic products such as applesauce, and the market is growing.

To meet the expanding fat-free, organic market, some grocery chains are building additional health food space into their new and remodeled stores.

“In the 32 Vons-operated Pavilions located throughout Southern California, there has been a significant increase in consumer demands for health-care and organic food products,” says Von’s spokeswoman Julie Reynolds. “Pavilions is responding to these consumer demands for healthy foods by expanding those areas, especially as stores are remodeled or built.”

In the coming year, as Americans continue to wrestle with the reality of diminishing disposable time, convenience food manufacturers are expected to add to the growing market of healthy, quickly prepared foods.

“Many people are often too busy to cook and rely on convenience items to feed themselves and their families,” says Rank. “Consumers can’t seem to get enough of foods like TV dinners, quick pizza doughs and all-in-one products such as tuna fish packaged with crackers and mayonnaise.”

The Healthy Choice line of low-fat products produced by Con-Agra has reached phenomenal sales in just four years.

“Annual revenue for this 100-product line were reported to be approaching $600 million at the beginning of 1992,” says Rank, who notes that the line’s popularity originally took Con-Agra by surprise.

“At first, the company thought that the low-fat, low-sodium foods would appeal mostly to older consumers on restricted diets,” says Rank, who is also a spokesperson for the American Heart Assn. “What they didn’t anticipate was the product line’s mass appeal as convenient low-calorie/low-fat food for aging baby-boomers.”

In 1993, hurried consumers will also see more healthy additions in the area of fast food and casual dining.

“Fast food and family-style restaurants will continue to develop and offer healthy meal alternatives such as salads and lean meat entrees,” says Ronald Amen, vice president of ABIC International Consultants Inc. in Orange, which works with food and pharmaceutical companies in the areas of food and drug product development and consumer testing.

“Some menus now indicate meals that are low in fat with a heart (symbol). There has also been an increase in the number of people who request nutritional analysis information about restaurant food,” he says.

During the next year, there’s likely to be a lot of experimenting going on in the test kitchens of fast food and large family restaurants.

“The technology already exists that will enable food manufacturers to deliver healthier, delicious-tasting meals,” says Amen. “By substituting ingredients and even using new food combinations, food preparers can provide nutritious foods that satisfy consumers.”

Steven Bamberger is chairman of Reliance Food Group in Irvine, a company which works with manufacturers to develop products for restaurant chains.

“When it comes to restaurant eating, there is often a gap between attitude and behavior,” he says. “People know what they should be eating, but they often go after products with taste, and more healthier items don’t taste as good as high fat foods. As a result, good-for-you products don’t always sell well and are taken off of menus.”

For Bamberger and other food developers, this year’s challenge is to meet the public’s demand for tasty, healthy foods.

“There aren’t a lot of products that taste great and are great for you,” says Bamberger. “Such foods would be a significant part of a company’s sales, and it’s our job to develop them.”

In 1993, you will also begin to see a lot of changes on food labels. The result of the public’s desire to follow more healthy diets is the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, which officially goes into effect in May of 1994, although many companies have already started to make changes.

“This act, which regulates nutritional labeling, reflects the nation’s changing health concerns,” says Rank, who assists companies with label preparation, nutrient analysis and laboratory testing of foods. “The new labels will help individuals following a healthy diet to make wise choices.”

The labels will list the percentage of calories derived from fat, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, total carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, sugars, dietary fiber, protein, sodium, vitamins A and C, and calcium and iron, she says.

Knowing the exact amount of items such as saturated fat, cholesterol and dietary fiber will be extremely helpful to individuals striving to follow a heart-healthy diet, says Douglas Lyle, a board-certified cardiologist in Laguna Hills who is president of the Orange County Chapter of the American Heart Assn.

New labels will also list more realistic serving sizes, which “will be consistent in each product line and closer to the amounts of food people actually eat,” says Rank. “Instead of listing one ounce for potato chips or a half-cup of cereal, labels will list four to five ounces of chips and a whole cup of cereal.”

Advertising ploys such as ‘no cholesterol’ will also be regulated, says Lyle. Only products containing little to no fat and no cholesterol can make this claim. “This is important, because in the past, this claim has been used on products that are loaded with fat (such as peanut butter), and fat is converted almost immediately in the body into cholesterol,” he says.

To further protect consumers and help them make nutritious choices, the label law regulates the use of health claims on packaging. Only four claims can be made, says Rank. They are that sufficient calcium helps prevent osteoporosis; adequate fiber intake decreases the risk of heart disease and cancer; high fat diets are associated with heart disease and cancer and too much sodium can increase the risk of hypertension.

In the coming year, you’ll also be hearing more about the landmark “food pyramid,” which was recently released by the USDA. This visual food chart in the shape of a pyramid places less desirable foods that should be eaten sparingly, such as fats, on the top of the pyramid; foods that should be eaten in moderation (meats, dairy products) in the top/middle, and foods that should incorporate the bulk of our diet (fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, rice, pasta and other whole grain products) at the bottom.

When you visit your local grocery store in the coming months, you’re likely to see signs in the produce department that say “5 a Day for Better Health.” This is a campaign spearheaded by the National Cancer Institute to promote eating five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day.

This program started in 1988 because of the low amount of fruits and vegetables eaten by Americans--the average is 3 1/2 servings per day, and more than 40% of people eat two or fewer servings daily.

According to studies, people who have a low daily intake of fruits and vegetables have twice the risk of contracting cancer compared to those people who eat five or more servings of these foods a day. In countries where fruit and vegetable consumption is much higher than here, cancer rates are much lower.

“If most Americans ate five servings a day of fruits and vegetables, we would save 150,000 lives from cancer in just one year,” says Rank.

As we head toward the year 2000 and longevity increases, there’s no turning back nutritionally.

“The current trend toward healthful eating habits and a fit lifestyle will continue on into the next century,” says Amen. “There’s no reason why people would go back to an unhealthy way of living.”