Can someone please explain to me nutrition labels and superfoods. For example I have linked photos of a yogurt I purchased recently. This is labeled as crushed superfoods. Yet the nutrition label shows almost no significant vitamins. What am I missing? Or is this just junk food in disguise?
[https://imgur.com/a/dGc1fPA](https://imgur.com/a/dGc1fPA)
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If you are in the U.S., welcome to the wonderful knowledge that the world of dietary knowledge and government regulation are giant piles of unspeakable filth.
Its not that the research hasn’t been done and that the data and knowledge for dietary health and requirements aren’t known.
The problem boils down to money. Food companies like money. Just like every other company. Nothing wrong with that. Its how free market economies work.
But the U.S. also has the wonderful world of special interest lobbying. You know that wonderful food pyramid that was used by the FDA for decades to educate the public on a healthy diet? Yeah, there were a lot of lobbying efforts by food industry groups to affect the end product. Its not even things you might think were all that bad, but the sole intent was to either avoid negative connotations or create positive ones. Not based on unbiased data from independent studies.
There was an entire section dedicated to dairy/milk. You can live your whole life perfectly healthy never consuming cow milk. I don’t suggest it though, shits delicious. Especially with cereal. But the addition of milk to the food pyramid sends the message that you should be consuming it.
The recommended nutritional values are pretty arbitrary too. They are based on 2,000 cal/day diet. Which is going to match very few people. A 110 lbs female has different dietary needs than a 220 lbs male.
And I can’t start ranting about the FDA without bringing up expiration dates.
[https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/confused-date-labels-packaged-foods](https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/confused-date-labels-packaged-foods)
That is the FDA’s own website saying that expiration dates are problematic to say the least. The ONLY expiration dates they actively monitor and regulate are the ones for infant formula.
EVERY other expiration date is managed and determined by the manufacturer. Who have a vested interest in you keeping their product on your shelf the shortest time they can convince you of so that you go back to the store and buy more.
Oh, neato fact for you. Do you know the only reason soda (like Coca-cola, Pepsi, etc.) isn’t required to be marked and transported as a Class 8 (corrosive) Hazardous Material?
https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=2e304c1d7a2f9f8db6620f2dcafcc1d0&mc=true&node=pt49.2.173&rgn=div5#se49.2.173_1115
CFR Title 49 Subtitle B Chapter 1 Subchapter C Part 173.307 (a) (1)
Exempts carbonated beverages from the requirements of Subchapter C. Which is the section containing ALL hazardous material requirements. So an entry under the “compressed gases” section exempts sodas from the standards for corrosives too. Otherwise your tasty soda would have to be transported and marked as HazMat. Your aluminum soda can has a thin plastic liner on the inside to keep the soda from eating through the can.
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