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Nutrition Facts Education Campaign

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According to research, food labels are the most trusted source of nutrition information. The % Daily Value (%DV) found on the Nutrition Facts table is a quick and easy tool to help consumers understand if there is a little or a lot of a nutrient. I served as a spokesperson for this educational campaign which was a partnership between Health Canada and Food Consumer Products of Canada. We held a bloggers’ event in March, and I was featured in a number of radio interviews.

Here’s a picture of a “cereal box” (aka old shoe box) that my kids gave me for Mother’s Day when they were four and five years old. It was filled with different types of cereal. They called it “Mama-O’s” and even drew a Nutrition Facts on the back of the box!

New heart health claim

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About 44% of Canadians have high blood cholesterol which is a risk factor for heart disease. Health Canada has recently approved the following new heart health claim: “Replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats from vegetable oils helps lower/reduce cholesterol.” The claim may be applied to vegetable oils or a food made with vegetable oil provided that the food meets the specific criteria. For example, one of the criteria is that the vegetable oil must contain more than 80% polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat.

Healthier oils are pictured in the chart above by larger blue, orange and yellow coloured bands which show the relative percentages of polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats, and smaller red bands which show saturated fats.

What’s the consumer advice? Switch from saturated fats such as butter and lard to healthier oils such as canola, safflower and sunflower.

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