Question 1
In a magazine there was an advertisement of a dietary supplement that contains vitamins A & C and ripe banana vitamin B-complex. It did not disclose the size of the dietary supplementary bar that one should take and after how long but the benefits were outlined. The major benefit stated was that it helps in prevention of viral diseases such as the common cold. This can be true but the fact that the vitamins are packed decreases efficiency as compared to when taking the vitamins from the actual fruit itself. This means that if one supplements food with the bar and leaves out the actual fruit one is substituting the real vitamin for packed substandard vitamins.
Vitamin B-complex increase the level of resistance to viral diseases but it is scientifically proven that in order for it to be effective it has to be consumed in heavy contents one that cannot be contained in a dietary supplement bar. There is truth about the vitamin B-complex but there is no truth that the consumption of the bar will make any substantial differences in the immunity of the consumer.
Question 2
What information on the label do you find the most useful?
The amount of calories per serving is important; also the percentages of fat, proteins and carbohydrates are very helpful. The ingredients used to maintain the product helps as some people are really allergic.What information do you find difficult to understand, or even confusing?
When a label says that it has a reduced or less amount of a particular fat or protein it is hard to understand exactly what that means. It gets even more confusing when the explanation to less or reduced means that it has 25% less of the fat or protein than the original version(McCarthy, p33). This is difficult because in order to the exact amount one has to conduct research. The best they can do is explicitly state the amount without talking of reduced or not.Is there anything that isn't on the label that you would like to see added?
I would like to see the exact number without them being rounded off to the next number. For instance foods that are said to have 0% trans fat usually have 0.5% which is rounded off to zero. There should be exact quantity available to avoid misleading the consumers.Do you have any other suggestions about how the label might be changed to make it more helpful?
The label can be made to be bigger; a bigger portion of the label should consist of the percentage of ingredients available in a serving. The instructions should be written in big letters that can be easily read and not the small and little ones that are usually at times even hard to see much less read.Will learning about the nutrition label help you in picking out products in the future?
Yes, it will definitely help; this is because I will know the content of exactly the food I am picking. I can easily make my calories count and be able to consume the exact amount required. It will help in being healthier (McCarthy, p12).
Work cited
McCarthy Rose, Food Labels: Using Nutrition Information to Create a Healthy Diet, (2008), Springer Publishers
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