[00:00.00]For the first time in two decades, the federal government is making significant changes to the nutrition labels on the food and drinks you buy at the store.
[00:09.28]Jeffrey Brown sorts through the details and what the changes are designed to do.
[00:14.65]As Michelle Obama said today, unless you had a thesaurus, a microscope, a calculator, or a degree in nutrition, you were out of luck. 
[00:23.06]So the new labels put forward by the Food and Drug Administration aim to reduce confusion about calories, serving sizes and more. 
[00:30.63]We get an explanation from William Dietz, former director for the CDC¡¯s Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity.
[00:37.89]And welcome to you.
[00:38.85]I want to start with some props that we have to help us, a 12-ounce bottle of soda that used to be thought of as a single serving, 
[00:45.88]and a 20-ounce bottle that is nowadays perhaps at the lower end of what people actually consume in a serving. How do the new labels deal with this growth in serving sizes?
[00:56.68]Well, the nutrition facts panel was originally developed about 20 to 30 years ago, at a time when servings were much smaller than they are today.
[01:06.08]And the 12-ounce to the 20-ounce soda is a good illustration. Another good illustration is that ice cream used to be, a serving was half-a-cup, and, today, it¡¯s a cup. 
[01:17.02]So one of the most important changes in the nutrition facts panel is an updating of portion size.
[01:22.20]All right, so, now I want to show a proposed new label so we can see another way that these new labels would help. 
[01:29.23]This is ¡ª this emphasizes calories, and the number of servings are given much more prominence here. This is to overcome some of the confusion?
[01:38.97]Well, twofold.
[01:41.50]Yes, part of it is to overcome confusion. Part of it is to highlight the role of calories. The issue in the United States today is obesity. 
[01:50.10]And obesity is caused by excess calories. So highlighting the caloric content of the product is an important step towards trying to control obesity.
[01:59.53]There¡¯s also in this new proposed label at least something new. It¡¯s a separate line for sugars that are added. 
[02:06.61]Now, explain what that means and why it¡¯s important.
[02:10.87]Well, the last two dietary guidelines, under two different administrations, 2005 and 2010, called for a reduction in the intake of added sugars by Americans.
[02:21.36]But the prior labels didn¡¯t have added sugars on them. Furthermore, we know that sugars are an important contributor to obesity. 
[02:28.96]So highlighting added sugars gives Americans an additional piece of information on how to begin to control their weight.
[02:35.40]In thinking about how important all of this is, what ¡ª how much is known about the degree to which people actually read these labels and are guided by them?
[02:45.63]Well, my understanding is that about a third of people read those nutrition facts panels today.
[02:53.77]But our hope is that this will get increased use. 
[02:55.55]And, as the panel becomes more helpful and to helping Americans make good decisions about their nutrition, that it will receive increasing use. 
[03:07.21]But it¡¯s certainly not be-all and end-all. People make decisions for all sorts of reasons, and nutritional content is only one of those reasons.
[03:11.72]Also still on the table, but I gather delayed so far, are changes to labels on menus in restaurants and fast food stores. So that, of course, is another component of all of this.
[03:24.84]Right.
[03:26.37]And, in my view, that¡¯s a much more complicated business, because restaurants, the way they prepare their portions and their foods is going to be very hard to assign a nutrition facts panel too.
[03:38.15]But, certainly, most people get their calories from those products that they buy in the grocery stores. 
[03:43.47]And those products are going have the nutrition facts panel, which will enable a more educated judgment about that purchase.
[03:51.09][03:44.69]And, finally, the food industry and everyone actually gets to weigh in for ¡ª before all of this is set. 
[04:00.51]Would you expect changes or delays to these proposed new labels?
[04:02.78]Well, I think that there¡¯s going to be a lot of controversy about this.
[04:08.52]The Grocery Manufacturers Association had kind of a noncommittal statement this morning about their response to these panels. 
[04:15.27]But I think there¡¯s an opportunity for both the industry and the public, most importantly the public, to respond to these changes 
[04:23.19]and let the federal government know how they feel about it and whether they think this is going to be helpful.
[04:27.54]All right, William Dietz, thanks so much.
[04:29.32]You¡¯re very welcome.