Practical Diets

Nutrition Facts Can Be Misleading

Posted on 25. Aug, 2009 by Sanford in Nutrition

As the old saying goes, “Don’t believe everything you read.” In many regards, the same holds true of the Nutrition Facts labeling common to foods sold in the U.S. The information that these Facts contain can at times be misleading. For instance, many of the packaged foods in a supermarket claim that they have zero trans fats and this will be supported by a zero listed under the trans fat section of

the Nutrition Facts label. However, you’ll notice in the fine print that it says in the smallest font allowed by law that it says, “per serving.” In the U.S. food manufacturers/marketers are allowed to round up or down (as it suits their needs of course). In the case of fats, if it’s 0.4g per serving, then they are allowed to round down. If there’s 3.5g of fiber, they’re allowed to round up to 4g.

But there’s a bigger problem with the Nutrition Facts. It’s more the issue of what is missing rather than what it contains. While the contents of the label may very well be accurate, all foods have basically been confined to this rather small and limiting box. All in the name of conformance I guess. This was an attempt by the FDA to ensure standardization of the information being communicated to consumers. It’s a great idea really, but perhaps it is time for a revision. We have learned a tremendous amount of new things about food since the Nutrition Facts were implemented in 1994; things such as antioxidants, Omega-3s, trace minerals, etc.

An excellent illustration of the failings of the Nutrition Facts is the comparison of such simple foods as white rice and brown rice. I’m sure you know that brown rice is incredibly healthy while white rice is kind of like white bread (unhealthy). No? Perhaps that is because you have been relying on Nutrition Facts for too long. Look at the Nutrition Facts for each and be amazed. *Please note that I will be concentrating on the differences only of the Nutrition Facts for each.

White Rice

Brown Rice

White rice appears to have a lot of vitamins, however, this is because white rice has been fortified since it is completely devoid of any nutrition. White rice has had all of the nutritious parts removed and the manufacturers are required by law to add back some nutrients. This is why you’re not supposed to pour out the water when cooking white rice or you will lose all of those vitamins.

So what has brown rice been reduced to? It appears to be no better than white rice really. It is fattier than white rice, has no Folic Acid, less Iron and less Thiamin. On the other hand, white rice is a fat-free food! That speaks to a lot of people. People have been so conditioned over the years to fear fat, that even 1g is a big deal.

If you’re counting carbs, you probably wouldn’t be looking at either white or brown rice since they would both be considered atrocious. But if you’re not counting carbs, what’s 3 more grams of carbs going to matter if you go with the white rice? Brown rice has one gram of fiber so it has that going for it. But Americans don’t take fiber very seriously and it’s only one gram. It’s my belief that most Americans would think that they could get more fiber from some cereal, a granola bar, or more likely a fiber supplement. While fiber seems to be entering the spotlight these days, I still think that most Americans wouldn’t take much notice of one gram and would prefer to get their fiber from their yogurt or some other bizarre new food product that now contains it. It should be noted though that not all fibers are created equal but perhaps that should be saved for future discussion.

What about the 100mg of potassium in brown rice that is missing from the white rice? You could get four times that much from a banana (as may be rationalized in the eyes of many). Plus white rice offers the added bonuses of Folic Acid and higher Thiamin and Iron. And is the higher Niacin content of brown rice worth discussing? It’s only 2% higher after all. Really, it could go either way, but most people prefer the taste of white rice and will choose that. Plus another bonus is that it cooks in like half the time it takes to cook brown rice. In today’s fast-paced world, even the 20 minutes it takes to cook white rice is a bit lengthy and someone in a rush might even opt for the instant white rice.

Now it’s not the food’s fault of course. We’ve just boxed it in and have only allowed it to answer a small number of questions. The less questions a bad food has to answer, the better off it appears while the healthier foods usually collect dust in the store. The reality is that white rice is almost like injecting sugar into your veins. White rice is digested and turns into glucose very quickly so our bodies are flooded with sugar in a very short period of time. Brown rice, however, is digested much more slowly in comparison because of the extra “stuff” on the outside. This “stuff” called the bran and germ layers contain fiber and fat which make the rice more complex for our bodies to process so the sugars are released much more slowly into our system along with other vauable nutrients. This is the way it’s supposed to be.

So stay away from foods that are “Enriched” like white rice. Take the Nutrition Facts with “a grain of salt.” Stick with natural, whole foods. And don’t believe everything you read.

*Note: the content of the nutrition facts provided here were compared to all of the other white and brown, long-grain, uncooked rice in the store and they all had the exact same nutrition facts.

More Information
- For everything you ever wanted to know about brown rice.
- For more in-depth nutrition analyses, check out www.nutritiondata.com. Here you will see some more complete numbers on white rice and brown rice.