Destigmatizing Carbohydrate with Food Labeling: The Use of Non-Mandatory Labelling to Highlight Quality Carbohydrate Foods

Marinangeli, Christopher P F; Harding, Scott; Glenn, Andrea J.; Chiavaroli, Laura; Zurbau, Andreea; Jenkins, David; Kendall, Cyril W.C.; Miller, Kevin B.; Sievenpiper, John L.

doi:10.3390/nu12061725

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This supports the importance of harmonizing serving size, which would allow them to provide clear nutrition information on the food pack and to help the consumer in making informed food choices [ 39 ]. Lastly, the analysis of fiber content in bread and substitutes would have been of interest, considering the growing interest in fiber of the research community and the consumers [ 40 , 41 ]. However, its declaration not being mandatory on nutritional labels in accordance with the above-mentioned Reg.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Food Labels to Evaluate the Nutritional Quality of Bread Products and Substitutes Sold in Italy: Results from the Food Labelling of Italian Products (FLIP) Study

Angelino

Rosi

Ruggiero

et al. 2020

Foods

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bread is one of the most common staple foods, despite the increasing consumption of the so-called “bread substitutes”. The aim of the present work is to survey the nutritional quality intended as a nutrition declaration of 339 pre-packed bread products and 1020 bread substitutes sold in the major retailers present on the Italian market. Comparisons of energy, macronutrient, and salt content within product types, and between regular and gluten-free (GF) products and products with or without nutrition claim (NC) and health claim (HC) declarations, were performed. A high inter-product variability was detected. The median energy contents were 274 (interquartile range 255–289) and 412 (380–437) kcal/100 for bread products and substitutes, respectively. Irrespective of the category, GF products had lower amounts of energy than their gluten-containing counterpart (p < 0.001), whereas products carrying NC had lower energy, sugar and salt amounts than the products without these declarations on the pack (p < 0.001 for all). A strong positive correlation was observed between energy and carbohydrate in bread (rho = 0.73, p < 0.001), but not in substitutes (rho = 0.033, p = 0.29). The present work highlighted a high variability in the apparent nutritional quality of bread products and substitutes sold on the Italian market, and suggested that bread alternatives should not be considered tout court as substitutes from a nutritional point of view.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Food Labels to Evaluate the Nutritional Quality of Bread Products and Substitutes Sold in Italy: Results from the Food Labelling of Italian Products (FLIP) Study

Angelino

Rosi

Ruggiero

et al. 2020

Foods

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Certainly, labelling foods as "wholegrain" may be the right way to promote the consumption of WG products among consumers and to increase the overall quality of the diet. In this regard, Marinangeli et al highlighted that labelling WG is one of the multiple opportunities to use labelling to promote the consumption of quality carbohydrate-rich foods, together with focusing on the low glycaemic index and glycaemic response claims or boasting dietary fibre nutrient content claims and associated dietary fibre-based health claims [42]. Thus, initiatives aimed at helping consumers in reading and understanding information reported on the food labeling would be useful to help them in making conscious food choices, which is also related to the selection of WG products.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional Quality of Wholegrain Cereal-Based Products Sold on the Italian Market: Data from the FLIP Study

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The consumption of wholegrains (WG) is encouraged worldwide, but the lack of a common legal definition of such products leads to an unclear classification and identification on the grocery store shelf. In Italy, several products are generally sold as WG, but it cannot be determined if they are made entirely with all WG cereal(s) or if they are partially produced with WG ingredients (PWG). The aims of this study were to (a) survey the number of cereal-based food items formulated with WG, PWG, or refined (RG) present on the Italian market; and (b) analyse the nutritional quality, intended as nutrition facts, of WG products in comparison to PWG and RG. Nutritional information and declarations were retrieved from packs of 3040 products belonging to five different categories: breakfast cereals, biscuits, sweet snacks, bread, and bread substitutes. A descriptive analysis of the products and comparison of energy, macronutrients, fibre and salt among RG, PWG and WG products within each category was performed. In all categories, a major portion of the products did not contain WG ingredients. Results showed that the nutritional quality of RG, PWG, and WG products varied in relation to the product category and that WG inclusion cannot be always considered a marker of the overall nutritional quality of foods. Instead, it is necessary to evaluate the global product characteristics, and it is important to pay attention to differences between WG and PWG products that can be perceived by consumers as equivalent.

show abstract

“…The GI does not address nutrient density, it does not translate well to HDPs, and its singular focus on one dimension of carbohydrate-containing foods may divert public attention away from dietary patterns-based approaches to improving health. In addition, among common measures of carbohydrate food quality used in regulatory frameworks, the effects of carbohydrate-containing foods on postprandial glycemia are “the most contentious” ( 72 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspective: The Glycemic Index Falls Short as a Carbohydrate Food Quality Indicator to Improve Diet Quality

Nicholls

2022

Front. Nutr.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This perspective examines the utility of the glycemic index (GI) as a carbohydrate quality indicator to improve Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) adherence and diet quality. Achieving affordable, high-quality dietary patterns can address multiple nutrition and health priorities. Carbohydrate-containing foods make important energy, macronutrient, micronutrient, phytochemical, and bioactive contributions to dietary patterns, thus improving carbohydrate food quality may improve diet quality. Following DGA guidance helps meet nutrient needs, achieve good health, and reduce risk for diet-related non-communicable diseases in healthy people, yet adherence by Americans is low. A simple indicator that identifies high-quality carbohydrate foods and improves food choice may improve DGA adherence, but there is no consensus on a definition. The GI is a measure of the ability of the available carbohydrate in a food to increase blood glucose. The GI is well established in research literature and popular resources, and some have called for including the GI on food labels and in food-based dietary guidelines. The GI has increased understanding about physiological responses to carbohydrate-containing foods, yet its role in food-based dietary guidance and diet quality is unresolved. A one-dimensional indicator like the GI runs the risk of being interpreted to mean foods are “good” or “bad,” and it does not characterize the multiple contributions of carbohydrate-containing foods to diet quality, including nutrient density, a core concept in the DGA. New ways to define and communicate carbohydrate food quality shown to help improve adherence to high-quality dietary patterns such as described in the DGA would benefit public health.

show abstract

Destigmatizing Carbohydrate with Food Labeling: The Use of Non-Mandatory Labelling to Highlight Quality Carbohydrate Foods

Cited by 13 publications

References 64 publications

Analysis of Food Labels to Evaluate the Nutritional Quality of Bread Products and Substitutes Sold in Italy: Results from the Food Labelling of Italian Products (FLIP) Study

Analysis of Food Labels to Evaluate the Nutritional Quality of Bread Products and Substitutes Sold in Italy: Results from the Food Labelling of Italian Products (FLIP) Study

Nutritional Quality of Wholegrain Cereal-Based Products Sold on the Italian Market: Data from the FLIP Study

Perspective: The Glycemic Index Falls Short as a Carbohydrate Food Quality Indicator to Improve Diet Quality

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About