We have food labels, now what?

cartoon by Cathy Wilcox

(Don’t get scared by the length of this blog entry, just keep in mind that it took me more time to write it than it’s going to take you to read it. By the way, the best part is at the end. Just don’t scroll down, or you’ll miss the point.)

The majority of people who need nutrition/health advice are of low socioeconomic status, because the ones who are of high socioeconomic status already have a personal nutritionist and a personal trainer and a broad circle of affluent friends who are, for example, doctors. Besides, they read books on ‘extending their warranty’ (I saw this expression on an ad on the subway, promoting a book written by Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz), they have regular check ups, they attend yoga or tai chi classes to deal with stress and they understand and read nutrition facts tables when they go shopping to Loblaws or Sobeys. Their fridge is filled up with pre-cut fruits and vegetables and few times a week, if they don't have time to cook, they have lunch and dinner in gourmet restaurants that serve healthy local food accompanied buy local red wine that is good for their arteries. They are healthy. That's their status quo.

I'm not there yet. I'm hoping that one they I will be. But for now I buy spinach in bunches, instead of pre-washed and in a box. I buy a whole pineapple, instead of pineapple cubes. And I buy a whole bag of carrots, instead of the baby carrots. Why? Because they are cheaper. Oh, and I shop at No Frills and its yellow colours irritate me every time I go shopping. (I go to Sobeys for my freshly ground French Roast coffee and for stinky cheese, they have a pretty good selection, unlike No Frills).

What else... I don't watch TV. I don't read newspapers. I don't surf the internet beyond checking my e-mail, facebook, and occasionally some websites sent my way by my friends and family in the forms of links. My boyfriend cuts out interesting articles from Toronto Star and National Post for me, because he knows that otherwise I won't read them. He keeps me updated over dinner. I’m grateful to have him. The reason why I don't read or watch the news is simple - the news is always bad. I like to think that I live in a happy world. Either way it is not real, so what's the difference? I don't like to distort my perception about reality by watching what someone thought is interesting. While in reality it just sells the products advertised every 4 minutes or so. Yes, I miss a lot, you might argue, but I think I’m happier, and my boyfriend fills in my blanks.

Why does this matter? Because I'm not the only one who lives like this. So what? If I live in my own world and there are more like me out there and Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency come out with nutrition labels, like they did in 2003, how will they teach me about using them properly? They produced online resources, brochures, fliers etc. but what if none of these reach me? What if I am not interested or determined to find out on my own? What if there are hundreds, thousands of people like me?

I am asking this question from a point of view of a nutrition information communicator. How do we reach the masses with information that is so important for their own well-being?

Last week I learned in class that nutrition labels were targeted at the population at large. I actually needed to be told this to realise that the population at large doesn’t use food labels. I have assisted a dietitian a few times on shopping tours where she explained food labels to groups of people trying to lose weight. Being immersed in nutrition education for the last four years I was shocked to see that people were looking for cholesterol on nutrition facts table of orange juice. I realised how much people don’t know and I need to add that I don’t think it's entirely their fault.

I’m sure you’re dying to spend your Saturday night on finding out how to read food labels. People don’t have the time. Just like me. Ignore that I am nutrition student for a while. I am a student. I volunteer. I work. I cook for myself and my boyfriend, I have too much to read for school and too many essays to write, and I leave physical activity for the warmer months and I promise myself I will look into nutrition labels in the summer when the semester is done, because I don’t have time for this now and because I know that I should understand what they tell me. So summer comes and I am so sick and tired of internet and looking up materials for my essays and projects, I am so tired of textbooks that I would do anything but learn one more thing - about nutrition labels. I say tomorrow. And the summer passes and the new semester starts. And I doubt I will have more time when I graduate, get a job and start a family.

The people who badly need to know how to use food label are of lower socioeconomic status. This is because they are the ones who are often overweight or obese, stressed, maybe even depressed, and already sick with cardiovascular disease or diabetes and they don't have many friends who can help, because their friends are also poor, overweight or obese, sick, stressed and maybe even depressed. They often can’t care any less about food labels.

So how do we reach them? Word-of-mouth? It works best. Research supports this claim. We could make PowerPoint slides on food labels and send them to our friends and family just like we do with other PowerPoint slides on life wisdom and friendship.

Or…

Have you heard about SixthSense technology? I was introduced to it by no one else than my boyfriend. Pranav Mistry, the guy behind it is a genius. He took his computer apart and literally put it on to make it useful outside in the real world to a point where he makes a phone call dialling the phone number on the palm of his hand, or takes pictures with his fingers or goes to a store ‘wearing the computer’ and can see an online rating of a book he’s holding in his hands. He says he wants to make this technology available to masses, because it is very simple and cheap to make and use.

See for yourself, the video is 13 minutes long, but you really want to see this. (Remember that I don’t like to see unnecessary things, either). This one is worth it.



So I started thinking that perhaps just like he could see a book rating on a book he was holding right there standing in the store, one could also hear a description of a food product, whether it is healthy, high/low in fat, sodium or sugar. This could be revolutionary.

But until then, remember that when you’re looking at a nutrition facts table you start looking at the portion size, because the food industry has managed to hide calories using smallest portion sizes possible…