Training & Nutrition - How Much Faith Do You Have ??

Everthing we eat from a package these days has the Contents labeled ! Calories Vitamins additives what have you . Do you trust the labeling by these national Mfg companys of our food supply ???

It was my understanding that the food labeling was fairly well regulated.
I don't really know whether I would use the word trust after the incessant food recalls. I am not entirely sure most of the food industry gives a rats rear end about their consumers beyond how it affects their bottom line.

i trust the labels to be pretty accurate, as accurate as it matters at least. i just make sure i check the servings, sometimes i'd find something that doesn't seem to have that many calories or fat, but then i look at the servings and realize i already chomped down 4 servings of it....

Everthing we eat from a package these days has the Contents labeled ! Calories Vitamins additives what have you . Do you trust the labeling by these national Mfg companys of our food supply ???

No, I do a chemical qualitative analysis on everything I eat, with a variety of Bunsen burners, Erlenmyer flasks, and test tubes I keep in my kitchen. :D

Food tests are done by independent laboratories that are well regulated and would quickly go out of business if they didn't do good work.

they are very accurate.

They are fairly accurate, but remember that there is a level of tolerance built into each category. For example, trans fats. The label can legally say "No Trans Fats!" as long as there is less than 0.5g/serving. Remember that the recommended maximum is 2.0g. So if you're eating, say a bag of Fritos (the devil's work if there ever was any- see below for the Nutrition Facts), you might be getting less than .5g in a 32-chip serving, but you might get just under 1.0g in two servings (yeah- let's see YOU stop at one serving...). Add that in to whatever else you're eating that day, and I'd bet you're well over the 2.0g limit.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 32 Chips (28g)
Amount per Serving
Calories 160 Calories from Fat 90
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 10g 15%
Saturated Fat 1.5g 8%
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 170mg 7%
Total Carbohydrate 15g 5%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Sugars 0g
Protein 2g 4%
Calcium 2%
Vitamin E 4%
Vitamin B6 2%
Magnesium 4%
Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 56.2% Carbs 37.5%
Protein 5.0%

. . . Do you trust the labeling by these national Mfg companys of our food supply ???

Think of it this way. Even given the range of accuracy tolerance built into labelling it's an abundance of valuable information on which to make dietary decisions. It's much better than any calculations we can make as individuals short of becoming dietary experts. I'm constantly amazed at what I read on these labels, mostly negatively amazed.

As a child of the '60s however, I would counsel you to trust nobody absolutely. Put another way, trust everyone (and every group) to act in their own interests.

Strangely, the more "artificial" or "processed" a given food is, the more consistent it's likely to be.

Raw / natrual / organic stuff, being natural, has a higher degree of variability. So for example a stalk of broccoli can vary dramatically in how much vitamin C it has. That's not gonna stop me from eating broccoli of course.

The other thing is vitamins, supplements, sports powders are regulated as food not medicine, and I don't know if they meet the same label accuracy standards a say a bag of chips or a can of green beans.

Everthing we eat from a package these days has the Contents labeled ! Calories Vitamins additives what have you . Do you trust the labeling by these national Mfg companys of our food supply ???

I talked to a guy who took his own recipe for hot sauce and made it up for sale. He had a long story about getting his product through the hurdles and the testing and the expense. Of course, that is small stuff for a national company. But it is enough to keep many small guys out of the business entirely.

I would say that the figures are probably pretty valid. Shoot many of the ingredients do not vary that much in calories, fat, protein content and so on. As long as you know the ingredient list and the relative amounts, you can come up with a pretty good ball park figure.

For example, trans fats. The label can legally say "No Trans Fats!" as long as there is less than 0.5g/serving. Remember that the recommended maximum is 2.0g.

Thankfully in Canada trans fat has to be reported to the nearest 0.1g.

they are very accurate.

+1

A mislabeled product can have severe ramifications on people with special needs (allergies, diabetics, PKU, etc), therefore the regulations are rather strict.

Faith and reasoning are not incompatible. They're actually together. Trust is another thing. Someone once said that you can trust as far as you can predict.