USA Misleading Food Labels

Quest bars

Walden Farms Calorie free dips

Bcaa supplement..

What do these all have in common?

COUNTRY LABELING DISCREPANCIES!

CASE #1- The Quest for fibre calories

So my investigation on this topic started with Quest Bars. How could something so delicious have so little calories. I went on my google and pubmed search and the results were just as I hypothesized!

So Quest is saying that the fibre used does not absorb in the gut so doesn't equate to calories for the day...

After some more investigation, and a read into the lawsuit where one man sued them for false nutritional label but we won't go into that now lol I came to these conclusions-


Fibre does have calories. According to the "Canadian Food Inspection Agency"-
Fibre contains 2 cal/g!

But the USDA doesn't add this into their labeling!

THE EVIDENCE-

"Advances in scientific knowledge indicate that an energy value of 2 kcal/g for dietary fibre more accurately reflects its metabolizable energy in mixed diets.

Some jurisdictions such as Australia and New Zealand, Japan, and the European Union have adopted the energy value of 2 kcal/g for dietary fibre.

However, in the USA, the calorie calculation is different, namely, the amount of insoluble fibre can be subtracted from the total carbohydrate content. Therefore, the energy value assigned in the USA to insoluble fibre is 0 kcal/g and the energy value for soluble fibre is 4 kcal.

Health Canada (And Australia) considers the energy value for carbohydrate that is not digested in the small intestine, but is fully fermented in the large intestine, is 2 kcal/g. This will be the general value used for all unavailable carbohydrate, including dietary fibre, in the absence of specific values. This will also apply to inulin for which the previously calculated value was 2.2 kcal/g." 2

So pretty much, everyone BUT the USA is covering our butts and adding a calorie value JUST incase our bodies absorb the fibre because science isn't sure yet. 

Not only that, the sugar alcohols used in these products have calories too but aren't counted in the labeling.

This doesn't mean you should stop eating them though!! EAT THEM!!
They are-
- Delicious
- High in protein
- High in fibre (which helps you poop and other good things in your body)

It only means add 20-30 calories to your quest bars in MyFitnessPal! Because the labeling is American.. Same thing for anything you get from America! 

CASE #2- Walden where is the Farm

So I LOVE Walden Farms calorie free dip, but I noticed when I bought the one from America the labels were different to the Aussie one. Check out the labels below.

                                         

 American-













Australian-
 

So I emailed them and this was the response-

BOOM!

And what do they both contain? FIBRE!

Case closed.

Case #3- BCAA's

"Protein shall not be declared on labels of products that, other than ingredients added solely for technological reasons, contain only individual amino acids"- FDA guidelines

In other words because it's not a macronutrient per se, they don't feel the need to add it into calories or protein content... But we do in Australia because... science.

FOR example-

Purple Wrath EAA's complex (American)

Australian Bulk Nutrients EAA complex

On the FDA website they stated they are planning on making these changes to labelling-

Dietary fiber 

•  – Retain zero kcal/g for insoluble fiber 
• – Change the caloric value of soluble fiber to 2 kcal/g 

Sugar alcohols 

• Isomalt (2.0 kcal/g)
• lactitol (2.0 kcal/g)
• Xylitol (2.4 kcal/g) 
• Maltitol (2.1 kcal/g)
• Sorbitol (2.6 kcal/g
• Hhydrogenated starch hydrolysates (3.0 kcal/g)
• Mannitol (1.6 kcal/g)

References
1- http://inspection.gc.ca/eng/1297964599443/1297965645317
2- http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/consult/fibre-fibres/consul-fibre-fibres-eng.php#a53