For example, Campbell's V8 High Fiber, which Liebman calls "high fibber," claims on its label to offer "20 percent of the recommended daily value" of fiber per 8-ounce glass. As Liebman pointed out in a recent report, the fiber that Campbell's is talking about is maltodextrin, which she says has not been shown to have "any impact on regularity, or any aspect of digestive health." You may have seen the goofy Fiber One Yogurt commercial in which a supermarket employee watches an older woman wolf down yogurt after yogurt. "That's her fourth free sample. ... She's almost had a whole day's worth already," he says, flabbergasted. "And I still can't taste the fiber," the woman replies incredulously. There's a reason for that. The makers of Fiber One Yogurt haven't invented some magically creamy and delicious version of wheat bran. They simply stuffed the yogurt with inulin. A spokeswoman for General Mills, the makers of the yogurt, defends the advertising by pointing to studies showing that inulin suppresses appetite and promotes regularity. Inulin has not been shown to reduce cholesterol levels or lower blood pressure and has a much smaller laxative effect than wheat bran, says Liebman.
Ironically, the rise of these faux-fibers is driven by the greater attention that consumers are paying to nutrition labels. The food companies, in other words, are teaching to the test. Whether it's reducing fat and calories or adding fiber and vitamins, the industry is getting ever more clever at manipulating ingredients of snacks and other treats so that the stats mimic the nutritional data of fruits and vegetables.
I predict a wave of pressure on the FDA to change the labelling requirements. I propose that instead we funnel the money into a public advertising campaign. Message: "If it tastes that good, it isn't good for you." Evolution has hard-wired us to seek out simple carbohydrates and fat. If something tickles that deep reptilian longing for deep fried sugar cubes, it's not healthy. Slapping an RDA number on it won't change that fact. Things that taste too good to be true, aren't.
Things that taste too good to be true
Have you never had a perfectly ripe blackberry?
Maybe not the first thing you crave when you have a slight hangover, but damn good and good for you.
Message: "If it tastes that good, it isn't good for you."
As Captain Haddock's example proves this is just stupid.
More traditional purveyors of fiber rich food could eventually strike back.
"There's a reason you haven't crapped yet. Come back to California prunes."
...but it's more fun tricking ourselves into thinking we're eating something healthy. Why take that away from us?
Bring on the "healthy" donuts that are "trans fat free."
Where are these deep fried sugar cubes of which you speak . . . is this another Scottish delicacy?
For some, inulin can be a very nasty ingredient.
It's a sugar that your body can't digest but which can be digested by the bacteria in your intestines. Like the sugars in beans.
Many experience little or no extra flatulence or discomfort, but for a few, it can lead to painful bloating followed by explosive farting. It depends on how much you eat and the mix of microflora in your gut.
So there's a chance that the sweet old lady in the yogurt commercial could be shortly thereafter be doubled over in pain and blasting farts epic enough to power a windmill.
I don't know about deep fried sugar cubes, but on the Boardwalk in Ocean City you can get deep fried Oreos. Dip an Oreo in funnel cake batter, and drop it in the deep fryer. You can almost feel your arteries hardening. Soooo yummy.
9 weeks until Beach Season...
I really don't understand American's love of crap food - and why you all don't revolt against Big Food.
I moved to London five years ago and thank the maker for every blessed moment I spend in a Waitrose or a M&S Food or even a Sainsbury.
Every time I return to America for a visit I wander through the local Piggly Wiggly or A&P or Super Stop and Shop or whatever's at hand and am appalled at the sheer quantity of junk available - and the strange additives in the prepared sauces, the likes of which I never see in Britain. And the prices always seem to be higher than they are in London (not always, but for quality items - most certainly).
You think you have unlimited choice? Well, you do in a sense. You can purchase unlimited quantities of strangely-processed food, gallons of liquids not found anywhere in nature and gooey things that you bake in an over and taste of stale cheese and bread and, if you're lucky, meat.
I really don't understand what's so hard about bunging a few ingredients into a pan - let's say courgette, broccoli, spring onion, mushrooms, a bit of chicken - let it simmer slowly in a thin spread of olive oil for 20 mins, cover either in soy sauce or balsamic vinegar (e.g., choose an Asian or Italian flavour). It really isn't much to do for an infinitely customisable, quick dinner - is it?
Or - and this is brilliant - just roast some vegetables. You barely have to pay attention to them. Take some veg, coat it with olive oil, season with sage and rosemary and a wee bit of balsamic vinegar, shove in an over for 45 mins and - presto - fabulous-tasting vegetables.
NB. Just to balance things out - the restaurants in London cannot compare with the restaurants in America. I am passionately fond of Thai, Vietnamese and Malay food in America - a hell of a lot better than the stuff I find in London. Very much the reverse of the situation with the supermarkets.
I really don't like the "teaching to the test" crack. That is a false analogy that impliedly denigrates teaching to the test, when it is "the test" that is the problem. As Megan notes, "the test" needs to be changed. Fix the test, and we will all be better off if the companies teach to it.
Except maybe Frosted Mini Wheats, which are awesome.
I think the FDA needs to change teh labeling requirements for Trans Fats...when less than .5 grams per serving can be labeled as 0, less than .5 grams per day can still be dangerous, and a serving can be any amount they want (2/3rds of a slice of pizza = 1 serving) it's fucking impossible to know what is killing you.
The FDA needs to have trans fats labeled in mg
If something tickles that deep reptilian longing for deep fried sugar cubes, it's not healthy.
The deep reptilian longing is there for a reason. It only becomes your enemy when the deep fried sugar cubes are constantly available, which for most people, historically, has not been the case.
The thing which tastes too good to be true is an American persimmon. You can, if you are near a bearing tree at the right time of year, pick them up right off the ground and eat them.
I don't understand why Megan would object to labelling. It really seems that labelling is quite a libertarian kind of thing. For instance, I once met a former CEO of Phillip Morris North America. He described a fantastic marketing scheme for selling cigarettes. Basically the idea was that you'd name the brand Death Sticks and you'd have a cool logo and marketing campaign to go with it. The warning label on the side would say, "there is a high likelihood that using this product will definitely shorten your life in some way and could result in a hideous and painful death"
Food labelling is the same thing. People can always choose not to buy.
It reminds me that the essence of being a libertarian is learning not to care about the personal choices other people make - such as choosing to eat courgette (had to look it up) instead of deep fried oreos.
And I second the opinion on Frosted Mini Wheats.
Not to be Freudian or anything but that boy friend thing seems to be really working. You've been doing this anitiObama striptease for a while now, and then today you just really sold out. Now, we're looking forward to the alligator diet. How much mud do you think is in the minimum daily requirement?
Quatermass, I don't know where you have lived in the U.S., but in most of the places I have lived in this country, extremely healthy and tasty vegetables and fruits are extremely bountiful and cheap. Meat is as well for those who don't insist on their slaughtered animals having been treated with an eye towards minimizing animal suffering.
99 cents for a pound of fresh tender asparagus shoots is pretty cheap. 19 cents for a banana is is also. Three pounds of clementines for $3.99 is not too bad, and neither is four large heads of romaine lettuce, which will keep for two weeks, for $2.99. I buy fresh ripe red peppers for a dollar each, and when my garden is out of season I buy pretty decent grape tomatoes now at $4.99 for two pounds. If one can make do with frozen vegetables, and often there is little reason to not do so, it is even cheaper.
You are correct that there are mountains of garbage prominently displayed and that Americans shun cooking to their detriment, but the idea that Americans lack affordable access to tasty and healthful fruits and vegetables is just wrong.
Ironically, the rise of these faux-fibers is driven by the greater attention that consumers are paying to nutrition labels.
I think you need an informant who actually wants you to stay healthy. Your HMO, perhaps?
Yeah, a slice of a late summer German Queen or Brandywine tomato, with a leaf of fresh picked basil, and a few drops of good olive oil and balsamic vinegar, is definitely not too good to be true. Hell, if you want some protein, a small wedge of fresh mozzarella is pretty good to add to it.
A combination of carrots and sticks will probably work the best in the end. Public advertising campaigns combined with higher taxes seemed to have impacted smoking rates somewhat. A similar sort of multi-pronged approach could be used to prod Americans into improving their eating habits.
And then there's the role of peer pressure. Once it becomes embarrassing to be seen with a Big Gulp and a doughnut in your hands, we'll know change has really arrived.
Basic Fact, I'm not arguing we should repeal labelling requirements. I just think that people have to use the labels with a modicum of common sense.
Ms. McArdle, don't knock the Fiber One ads, they have what appears to be a Brit-immigrant Indian dude as a friendly neighborhood grocer. You put those ads down and so help me I'll sic Reihan on you.
@ Will - You're absolutely correct about the wide availability of decent food. I suppose my waffle was in response to people who tell me that it's cheaper to purchase ready-made "food" than fresh fruit and veg. It's neither true in American or Britain (or anywhere else I would imagine).
And I'm thinking precisely of Florida, South Carolina and Northern New Jersey. New York City is a different story, but the decent food there seems insanely overpriced at Whole Foods or even Safeway.
I was curious to see if Whole Foods would work as well in Kensington as it did in America for me. Well, the prices are mad compared to the really superb food one gets at a slightly upscale supermarket.
And I know this is thoroughly subjective, but I find American food bland (outside of California or farmer's markets) - that inexpensive fruit and veg whilst healthy is sooooo bland. The price of long-haul foodstuffs I suppose.
cf H.H. Munro, circa WWI:
...And so it was with the new breakfast food. No one would have eaten Filboid Studge as a pleasure, but the grim austerity of its advertisement drove housewives in shoals to the grocers' shops to clamour for an immediate supply. In small kitchens solemn pig-tailed daughters helped depressed mothers to perform the primitive ritual of its preparation. On the breakfast-tables of cheerless parlours it was partaken of in silence. Once the womenfolk discovered that it was thoroughly unpalatable, their zeal in forcing it on their households knew no bounds. "You haven't eaten your Filboid Studge!" would be screamed at the appetiteless clerk as he turned weariedly from the breakfast-table, and his evening meal would be prefaced by a warmed-up mess which would be explained as "your Filboid Studge that you didn't eat this morning." Those strange fanatics who ostentatiously mortify themselves, inwardly and outwardly, with health biscuits and health garments, battened aggressively on the new food. Earnest spectacled young men devoured it on the steps of the National Liberal Club. A bishop who did not believe in a future state preached against the poster, and a peer's daughter died from eating too much of the compound.
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/FilStu.shtml
Will: I think good professor wasn't very careful in his choice of words. The raw produce is indeed readily available, plentiful and relatively inexpensive in local [Dallas suburbs, for me] groceries. So is meat. In either case you can trade off cost for quality staying within reasonable ranges of each parameter.
But, the processed foods.... oh, the processed foods :-( I've never been to UK but either Russia [present day kind, not the USSR of my youth :-)] or France have us so beat it's not even funny:
- Bread. 'Nuff said -- you can get something barely passable in a gourmet grocery (Whole Foods almost qualifies) but that's it. Well, I know of 1 [one!] place in Dallas where I can get tasty ciabattas... at the right time of day.
- Milk derivatives: those well known here, i.e. sour cream, cheese, butter, yogurt; those little known here, e.g. cottage cheese or buttermilk; those completely unknown -- I'll spare y'all the long list of Russian words :-). I get imports or stuff from small deli stores, if I can.
- Sausages and cold cuts: imports only. American brands of ham and roast beef may be decent, but that's it. Blows my mind -- with so much meat available, you'd think it would be different.
And the list goes on and on... Oh, one more thing -- desserts/pastries. Frigging unheard of. Just cook your own (TM).
Every time I return to America for a visit I wander through the local Piggly Wiggly or A&P or Super Stop and Shop or whatever's at hand and am appalled at the sheer quantity of junk available - and the strange additives in the prepared sauces, the likes of which I never see in Britain. And the prices always seem to be higher than they are in London (not always, but for quality items - most certainly).
That's because most Americans prefer something a little more lively than traditional English staples, even if it has to be thrown together in ten minutes between other commitments. I'm a fan of the custom-seasoned pan stir fry myself (it can easily turn into Asian food or Italian food depending on your ingredients and mood), but by the time you wash and chop the vegetables, a good 20-25 minutes of preparation time have vanished before they even hit the pan.
I might add that to the extent that British supermarkets have lower prices, if actually true, it might be related to having a nation roughly the size of California and nearly twice the population density, completely surrounded by ports.
By the way, since Brits are apparently such healthy consumers of natural food, where in nature do "Guinness", "Brown Sauce" and "Cadbury" occur, so that I can get me a corresponding fruit-bearing plant? I would love to have one of those.
Well, two outlets within five miles of my home, Trader Joes and Costco, has wonderful cheese from around the world at good prices, have very good bakeries at a low price, and Costco sells some pretty decent salami and other sausages. When I lived in South Carolina, the vegetables I didn't grow in my garden I bought from roadside stands, so I couldn't really couldn't comment on the supermarkets. When I lived in Minneapolis, I bought sausages from a Polish butcher shop and cheese from a deli attached to a great liqour store, and the prices were reasonable. I would agree that Whole Foods tends to be ridiculously expensive. I just think it is hard to make accurate generalizations about even medium-sized countries, to say nothing of pretty large ones.
Will: Costco has a few specific kinds of decent cheese -- as you said, imported. Sausages there are unacceptable, period. You've got to agree, this is pretty bad when you have to go to a place like TJ, or Whole Foods, or (in our case here) Central Market to find a limited assortment of edible processed foodstuff -- and quite expensive to boot.
Ah, one more pet peeve of mine. Fruit juices. Did you ever drink peach juice (NOT mixed with large quantities of grape juice and corn syrup)? Plum (NOT prune!) juice? Apricot juice? Black currant juice? I'm sure you haven't -- unless you traveled abroad... or squeeze it from fresh fruits in your kitchen. Not black currant though -- apparently it cannot be had in the USA for love or money.
Things that taste too good to be true, aren't.
What about avocados? They are 1/15 fiber by weight and 150g gives you 40% of your daily fiber need.
A 300g baked potato will give you another 28% RDA of fiber.
There are lots of very enjoyable ways to get fiber.
I think it's great that more foods contain inulin. It's both colon-friendly and waistline-trimming, helps the immune system and helps with the absorption of calcium. Given how many of us have had antibiotics that killed many of the 'good bacteria' in our digestive systems, the trends towards more yogurt with live cultures and more prebiotics such as inulin could make a big difference in people's immune systems.
I hope that they make the labeling more specific, so that I can search out foods with inulin, in part so that both I and my daughter are less likely to get osteoporosis some day.
"A combination of carrots and sticks will probably work the best in the end."
I like carrots, but how do you cook the sticks?
Ann: you eat them raw. Celery sticks, that is.
Max, I've had good salami in a lot of places, including Italy, and the large 2 lb. chubs that my local Costco sells are decent. I don't know why I should care that the good cheese I buy at Costco comes from Italy, Spain, or Holland. Like I said, I've found good sausages at local ethnic butchershops in American cities. I would agree that fruit juice variety is poor. Trader Joes is expensive for any sort of meat, but not so much for other stuff. I buy a huge bottle of great kalamata olive oil there for $7.49, and I love a beer-washed German cheese they sell there for a decent price. I would agree that if you are looking for good struff at Albertsons or Krogers, things are going to be difficult.
Sure there are good things available in other countries that can't be had here, but some food punditry, if I can term it that, is mindful of the extreme provincialism that used to exist in wine criticism, which has thankfully become a thing of the past.
I think it's good to use the labels as a guide, but really we are all different, and have to learn how our bodies (and our activity level) interact with our diet.
I love it when I'm mountain biking a lot ... first breakfast, second breakfast, afternoon barbecue ... but when I'm not riding so much I can't really do that.
My prose is a bit disjointed, so apologies ...
But Max is very much correct. I've wandered through Costco and Sam's Club and found the occasional decent item, but there are simply large swathes of rubbish there.
You can't get black currant juice? I'll send you some Ribena (don't care for it myself, though).
And aMouseforallSeasons is spot-on about brown sauce or the billion types of crisps one can buy or pork pies. Don't slag off the Branston pickle, though. Or Piccalilli. Or sweet chilli sauce from M&S. Not overly healthful, but sooooo sharply flavoured and delicious.
My unverifiable, wholly subjective experience has been that - on average - the middle class food one buys at a British supermarket is head and shoulders more flavourful and (on the whole) more healthful than comparable products in America. We don't add corn syrup to everything, to start ... and all at a similar cost.
Hell, even Heinz Baked Beans are better in Britain ;-) Top tip: pick up a teal tin of Heinz beans from the international aisle in your supermarket (being America, it's often an "Irish" aisle).
On a recent trip to South Carolina, I was impressed by the range of British - and beyond - foods in a place called the World Market, near Summerville. Terrific range of foods from around the world.
Now I really must go and water my Cadbury vine ... it's nearly Spring, when the chocoblossoms are at their loveliest!
ProfQ: _I_ can get black currant juice. In a Russian deli store, imported (from Eastern Europe, natch). Can you get fresh black currants though?
Will Allen: and yet, while certain varieties of tasty stuff can be had here, there remains an incovenient fact that run-of-the mill grocery stores do not, as a rule, stock them. And the European ones, apparently, do -- or so my limited experience tells me. Why? It's not a problem with agriculture as it used to be back in USSR [pun very much intended]. The raw products are plentiful. Gotta be consumer preferences, but why are they so different here?
by the time you wash and chop the vegetables, a good 20-25 minutes of preparation time have vanished before they even hit the pan.
Gotta work on those knife skills - a little practice with proper chopping and slicing technique and a razor sharp knife, and you'll be mowing through those in minutes, nay, seconds!
Will - the thing is that your interlocutor is using a false comparison. The bog standard grocery store in the UK isn't a huge bounty compared to Kroger's either. You've got to shop at the right chain in the right neighborhood there just as you do here, or use an independent.
Of course there are some benefits to having only a partial local food economy - the nearest large wine producing regions are Champagne et al, rather than Napa (or Long Island... shudder), and regional cheeses can be French. But a true like for like comparison would most likely be tied, with US having rather cheaper food. Of course if you compensate for the distance (and the difference in climates) that food needs to go, US comes out far ahead - markets in Siberia aren't quite as well stocked as the smarter bits of smart secitons of London and the Home Counties.
Putting the real number on the box does matter: see 'Nudge,' by Thaler and Sunstein.
Bulging Bracket:
"Will - the thing is that your interlocutor is using a false comparison. The bog standard grocery store in the UK isn't a huge bounty compared to Kroger's either. You've got to shop at the right chain in the right neighborhood there just as you do here, or use an independent."
This is true of Londoner I know. She drives to a particular branch of a chain rather than the branch of the same chain across the street from her flat.
That said, the selection at her favorite is spectacular.
Quatermass, get a grip. The 99p pork pie at M&S is delicious. As for the blandness of US food - well I can remember the tasteless bread, potatoes, apples, tomatoes, cheese and even strawberries, but I had assumed that things would have improved in 40 years.
Jack LaLanne, who is 95 and in better shape than I will ever be, famously said that he followed one rule for dieting all his life: If it tastes good, spit it out.
Choosing between scarce goods requires tradeoffs.
Quatermass,
What are you talking about? I shop in British chains in Ireland which use the same suppliers as yours in England and, compared to what I'm used to from the States, British food is absolute crap. Unless its local - cabbage, spuds, carrots and other root vegetables - it is vastly inferior to what you get Stateside. Tomatoes, for instance, are mealy and tasteless, virtually inedible. Lettuce is foul. Squashes have terrible texture and, again, little taste. And no Mediterranean citrus compares to the Floridian varieties. In Ireland, anyway, fresh meat is usually very good, since it's not factory farmed. I would guess something similar pertains in England. I don't eat much processed food, so have no idea. Dairy products are far superior to what's on offer in the US - I'll give you that.
Max: There are American producers of black currant juice, too: http://www.maplelane.com/pages/BlackCurrants.html. This brand is available in my local supermarket.
I'm inclined to think there is no such thing as an "American" supermarket--more like regional preferences and corresponding richness of choice. When I visit Texas, I'm delighted by the easy availability of good Mexican products....we're all Ortega and Goya up here in the Northeast. (You mean, I can buy fresh-made tortillas for $1.50 a bag? Cool!) Southern Californians will eat corn on the cob that IMO has no taste at all, but you can get actual nopalitos at an Albertson's. My Wisconsin-raised friend longs for easy access to good brats and fresh cheese curd.