Active Low-Carber Forums
Atkins diet and low carb discussion provided free for information only, not as medical advice.
Home Plans Tips Recipes Tools Stories Studies Products
Active Low-Carber Forums
A sugar-free zone


Welcome to the Active Low-Carber Forums.
Support for Atkins diet, Protein Power, Neanderthin (Paleo Diet), CAD/CALP, Dr. Bernstein Diabetes Solution and any other healthy low-carb diet or plan, all are welcome in our lowcarb community. Forget starvation and fad diets -- join the healthy eating crowd! You may register by clicking here, it's free!

Go Back   Active Low-Carber Forums > Main Low-Carb Diets Forums & Support > Low-Carb Studies & Research / Media Watch > LC Research/Media
User Name
Password
FAQ Members Calendar Mark Forums Read Search Gallery My P.L.A.N. Survey


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1   ^
Old Fri, Jun-15-01, 08:25
tamarian's Avatar
tamarian tamarian is offline
Forum Founder
Posts: 19,570
 
Plan: Atkins/PP/BFL
Stats: 400/223/200 Male 5 ft 11
BF:37%/17%/12%
Progress: 89%
Location: Ottawa, ON
Default Food labels to carry disease-fighting claims

POSTED AT 2:46 AM EDT Friday, June 15

Food labels to carry disease-fighting claims

By DANIEL LEBLANC
From Friday's Globe and Mail


Ottawa — Food producers will soon be able to label and advertise their products in Canada as helpful in the fight against specific illnesses, such as heart disease, osteoporosis, tooth decay, high-blood pressure and some types of cancers.

Such advertising has been legal in the United States since the mid-1990s, and it will be allowed in Canada as part of a revamping of the country's food labelling rules. Nutrition experts and food manufacturers are applauding the move, but also warn that consumers will need to be educated on complicated nutritional information if they are to benefit from the changes.

Anne Kennedy, president of the National Institute of Nutrition, said that health claims can "oversimplify the complexity of disease" if they are not well explained. "The label is only as good as the way people use it."

Consumers are craving such information, and manufacturers will probably improve the nutritional content of their products as a result, Health Minister Allan Rock said in an interview.

"There is some theory that the manufacturers [in the United States] have changed their products in order to be able to advertise that they have more of this or more of that," he said.

The new labelling regulations, which will be announced Friday, will force producers to adopt a standard 13-nutrient fact box on most products, replacing the hodgepodge of information currently in use.

Consumers should be able to make more informed choices in stores with the help of the labels, which will be based on comparable quantities of the product and state what percentage of the daily recommended intake of a nutrient each contains.

The U.S. government already allows producers to make 10 health claims on products that meet specific requirements, but Ottawa will allow only five health claims to be made for now.
•Products that will be labelled as beneficial for high blood pressure will have to be low in sodium and high in potassium;
•To claim to help prevent osteoporosis, the products will need to contain adequate levels of calcium and vitamin D;
•To claim to prevent some types of cancer, they will need to be rich in fruits and vegetables;
•To claim to fight heart disease, they will need to be low in saturated and trans fat;
•To be marketed as tooth friendly, the products will need to be low in sugar alcohols.

It is not clear how the changes would be regulated. Mr. Rock said further testing could eventually lead to additional health claims.

"There may be others, so long as we can be satisfied that the claims are founded in fact and science, and aren't just fabricated," he said.

In a statement, the country's food manufacturers said that Canadians now can make healthier purchases.

The Food and Consumer Products Manufacturers of Canada said the new rules will "provide a significant benefit to Canadians including promoting health and allowing consumers to make more informed food choices."

Health Canada will officially announce draft regulations on the food labelling and advertising Friday. It will engage in consultations over a 90-day period, and then release final regulations that will be implemented over a two-year period in the case of large food producers, and a three-year period for smaller ones.

There will be exemptions for restaurants and products like fresh fruits and vegetables, coffee beans and bakery items.

The government is also promising to restrict the use of marketing expressions such as "light" or "low," in favour of defining specifically what they mean in relation to items such as sodium or fat.

Current regulations require only a list of ingredients. Many food products on grocery store shelves already have nutritional labels, but they are voluntary and vary from company to company.

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet...me=breakingnews
Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
  #2   ^
Old Fri, Jun-15-01, 09:21
doreen T's Avatar
doreen T doreen T is offline
Forum Founder
Posts: 37,199
 
Plan: LC paleo/ancestral
Stats: 241/188/140 Female 165 cm
BF:
Progress: 52%
Location: Eastern ON, Canada
Default hooray

ok, small hooray ... as the article states, this isn't the be-all and end-all ... consumers need to educate themselves. But now I can't wait to see what other changes are in store .. especially the declaration of carb content ... sugars, fiber, sugar alcohols, etc... 90 days, huh??... ... I'll be following the recommendations from consumer groups, such as the CSPI.

thanks for posting this Wa'il!

Doreen
Reply With Quote
  #3   ^
Old Fri, Jun-15-01, 09:36
agonycat's Avatar
agonycat agonycat is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 3,473
 
Plan: AHP&FP
Stats: 197/125/137 Female 5' 6"
BF:42%/22%/21%
Progress: 120%
Location: Dallas, Texas
Default

Ah cool. Now you canadians can be just as confused as us americans on the "LITE" or "Low Cal" or whatever else they use. Hopefully your carb labels will be more correct than ours is
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
"Next big thing in heart disease: clean-out pills" gotbeer LC Research/Media 6 Thu, Feb-05-04 13:02
"Is anticipating heart disease as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4?" gotbeer LC Research/Media 5 Tue, Feb-03-04 09:00
"Mad cow disease -- a good way to stop beef consumption" gotbeer LC Research/Media 1 Tue, Dec-30-03 16:11
article about celiac disease NickFender LC Research/Media 0 Sun, Nov-23-03 16:26
Dietary Fat and Heart Disease Voyajer LC Research/Media 0 Thu, Jun-06-02 19:57


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:42.


Copyright © 2000-2024 Active Low-Carber Forums @ forum.lowcarber.org
Powered by: vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.