Casey,
Here is the LA Times article I
mentioned regarding nutrition bars.
Nutritional
Analysis of Bars Reveals Discrepancies
By
BENEDICT CAREY, TIMES HEALTH WRITER
They're filling, easy to eat and certainly
more nutritious than candy, chips or a bag of fries. But 60% of the nutrition
bars sold to millions of dieters, athletes and other health-conscious consumers
do not live up to the claims made on their labels, according to an analysis of
the popular products released last week.
Consumerlab.com, a White Plains,
N.Y.-based company that evaluates the content of vitamins, supplements and other
nutrition products, tested 30 nutrition bars for levels of fat, sodium and
carbohydrates, among other ingredients. Only 12 of the bars
delivered on all their label claims. The remaining 18 were
significantly off, usually by underreporting contents that dieters try to avoid,
such as fat.
"The most appalling thing was the missing carbs," said Dr. Tod Cooperman,
president of Consumerlab. Half of the products tested
contained far more carbohydrates than they claimed, often by as many as 100
calories. Many diets call for cutting back on carbohydrates, which are quickly
converted to sugar in the body, nutritionists say. Among products that met all
their labeling claims were MET-Rx Food Bar, Balance
Complete Nutritional Food Bar, EAS Myoplex Lite Nutrition Bar, Nutrilite
Positrim Food Bar, Precision Engineered Symetry and A Better Nutritional
Ratio Bar. Consumerlab does not make public
those products that fail its tests.
The FDA supervises labeling practices
for the products, and during the last year has contacted 18 nutrition bar makers
complaining about their claims. The industry has promised to address the
problem. Nutritionists are generally lukewarm toward nutrition bars, favoring
vegetables, fruits, grains and meat as the best sources for a balanced diet. But
makers of "meal-replacement," "energy," "protein," and "diet" bars have built a
$1-billion-a-year market by appealing to rushed, nutrition-conscious consumers,
according to Patrick Rea, research director at Nutrition Business Journal, which
tracks the nutrition industry. What distinguishes nutrition bars from candy and
snack bars is protein: You get 10 grams to 30 grams of it in a nutrition bar,
versus little or none in snacks and candy. Among other discrepancies the
analysis found:
* Sodium. Seven bars contained more sodium than they
claimed on the label--two to three times, in some cases. Many studies have
linked high sodium intake with elevated blood pressure, and dieters are often
told to watch the amount of salt in their food.
* Saturated fat. Four
products underreported the amount of saturated fat they contained; one had
nearly triple the amount on its label. Diets high in
saturated fats are linked to heart disease, some doctors say.
"These labels really need to be accurate,
and it's very disturbing that we're not being told what's in our food," said Dr.
David Heber, director of UCLA's Center for Human Nutrition. The prevailing diet
fads--low-fat, low-sodium, "low-carb"--make it
tempting to underreport these ingredients, he said.
Nutritionists
generally recommend healthy adults get about 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day
from a varied diet in which 60% or fewer calories are from carbohydrates, at
least 10% are from protein, and roughly 30% are from fat.
For
information about reprinting this article, go to http://www.lats.com/rights/register.htm
Best,
Pat
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