Monday, September 28, 2009

I Suppose Smart is a Relative Term

Really? Since when are Fruit Loops and Diet Pepsi smart nutritional choices?

I'm with you on this one, Mark. Last time I checked, anything that comes in a cardboard box is generally not a healthy choice. But let's review the specific cases he mentions:

Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry doesn't contain a single ingredient that I fully know the origins of. What is phosphoric acid? potassium citrate? calcium disodium edta?? It comes close with carbonated water, but I'm not quite sure how water gets to be carbonated, so even this has some mystery behind it.
Generally, the mystery bag is not a smart choice.
Fail.

As for Fruit Loops, I do have to grant that they don't contain high-fructose corn syrup or aspartame. BUT sugar is the #1 ingredient. Again, last time I checked, pouring solid sugar mixed with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and a whole slew of randomly numbered coloring agents into your milk wasn't a healthy choice. Also, it contains something called pyridoxine hydrochloride! Seriously? That sounds terrifying.
Fail.

What does Smart Choice mean? It's supposed to point out products with less fat, cholesterol and sodium. It's also supposed to contain nutrients like calcium, fiber and magnesium and certain vitamins like Vitamin A, C and E.
The Fruit Loops aren't too bad on this front. They do contain about 10% of daily fiber and Vitamin A, and 25% of Vitamin C. 6% of daily sodium and 2% daily fat are also pretty decent, but I'm still not sold on all that sugar.
Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry is a completely different story. I don't even understand how it made the Smart Choice list. It has more sodium and the same amount of fat (none) as its non-diet counterpart. No vitamins, no minerals. Lots and lots of processed ingredients, including one (aspartame) that is seriously debated as being toxic.

Companies that participate in the Smart Choice program include Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft and Pepsico. If that right there isn't a tip off that "smart" choice is a very misleading term, I don't know what is.

Relevant cartoon I found on Ezra Klein's blog:



4 comments:

  1. Pyridoxine hydrochloride is fortified Vitamin B6. That other stuff you listed too is just fortification vitamins.

    I don't have a box of kid cereal on hand, so I'm not sure of the rest of the nutrition facts, but what I've learned is it's permissible for all that sugar to exist because kids need to get those vitamins. Suppose parents could try a little harder to get their children used to a less sugar-dized palate and this route would need not be traveled.

    Another thing I noticed is that many of the reduced fat packaged counterparts do in fact often contain way more sodium. Give and take, I suppose. Or take none.

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  2. Thanks, girl. You with all your nursing knowledge. Is this from that nutrition class you have to take this semester?

    Here's an article about vitamin supplements (which I would assume are probably similar to fortification vitamins?) that talks about how, not only are they not necessarily good for you, they may even be harmful: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/104188.php
    Call me old-school, but I don't trust fortified vitamins one way or the other.

    Besides, even McDonald's has some nutrients buried in there somewhere. I feel like saying it's okay for kids to get that much sugar and processed shit in their cereal because someone popped a few vitamins in there is like me saying it's okay to smoke if I walk around the block while I do it. Walking around the block may be healthy, but honestly, I'd probably be better off sitting on my couch, not smoking.

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  3. Quit smoking :)

    Paragraph 3: Whoa.

    Stopped at the Iggle this am. In the juice aisle. Comparing red grapefruit juice to no added sugar red grapefruit juice, same brand. Guess what? The NAS kind had 20 more kcal/serving. Usually works the same way with low fat items and salt. Did you ever notice that? Less fat = more sodium. Weeeeeird.

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  4. That's so strange. Isn't cutting calories half the point of cutting out sugar?

    I don't understand how those juices get so sweet without added sugar. I was also at the Regal Beagle today and tried a free sample of this juice that had no added sugar. It was sooo sweet that I took like one sip and tossed the rest. All the fruit flavor came from concentrate, and that was the only explanation I can think of.

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