Have you ever noticed that the label on a package of rice or
dried beans says that the serving size is ¼ cup? Who eats a ¼ cup of rice as a
serving? I decided to dive into the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
regulations about labels to find out the reasoning behind portion sizes on
grains and beans.
According to the FDA’s website, “By law, serving sizes must
be based on the amount of food people typically consume, rather than how much
they should consume” (1). Information from national surveys are used to set
label portion sizes for everything from bagels (a serving is 110 grams) to wine
coolers (12 ounces) to ice cream (2/3 cup). Of course, if a package is a
single-serving container, the serving size must be the entire bottle even if it
contains more than the portion size set by the FDA (2). For example, if the FDA’s serving size for
soda is 12 ounces and a bottle of soda has 20 ounces, the serving size for that
product would be 1 bottle (20 ounces).
The FDA has designated 45 grams of dry product or 140 grams of
prepared product as the serving size for grains such as rice and barley and 35
grams of dry product as the serving size for dried beans (3). Food companies
are required to use a common household measurement like cups or tablespoons on
the label and cannot just indicate how many grams there are in a serving (2).
Thus, food producers must decide how to express 45 grams of dry grains or 35 grams
of dry beans in terms of cups. Based on what I’ve observed, it’s common to use
1/4 cup of dry product as the portion size for dried beans and dry grains. Some
companies do specify 1/4 cup (dry) but if they don’t, you’re safe to assume
that if a quarter cup is listed as a serving, it’s likely to be the dry amount
of the product. Some packages also include a statement along the lines of
serving size: ¼ cup (makes ¾ cup prepared) but manufacturers are not required
to do this.
If you’re trying to use the food label to figure out how
many calories (or carbohydrates or other nutrients) are in a dry grain or dried
bean that you’ve prepared, you have a few options.
You could only prepare the amount that is
identified on the package as the serving size – for example, 1/4 cup of dry
brown rice – and see how much this makes when you cook it. Is that the usual
amount that you eat or will you need to make more and then increase the
nutrient content from the package accordingly?
You could prepare the amount you usually make,
perhaps 1-1/2 cups of dry brown rice, then determine the amount of cooked rice
that this makes and back calculate to see how much cooked rice would result
from 1/4 cup dry rice. Additional calculation could allow you to determine how
many calories or nutrients are in the portion you eat.
You could contact the manufacturer and politely
request that they include a “prepared” amount on the label and inquire what
that amount would be.
Ideally, in my opinion, FDA would make it easier for
consumers who prepare foods from scratch and require food companies to use
serving sizes that would be more meaningful than 1/4 cup of (dry) brown rice!
2. FDA. Food labeling: Serving sizes of foods that can
reasonably be consumed at one eating occasion, reference amounts customarily
consumed, serving size-related issues, dual-column labeling, and miscellaneous topics:
Guidance for industry. 2019. https://www.fda.gov/media/133699/download
“EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN SUBSECTION (C) OF THIS SECTION, BEGINNING JULY 1, 2022, A MANUFACTURER MAY NOT SELL OR OFFER FOR SALE IN THE STATE A COSMETIC IF THE MANUFACTURER KNOWS OR REASONABLY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT THE FINAL PRODUCT OR ANY INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT OF THE FINAL PRODUCT WAS DEVELOPED OR MANUFACTURED USING ANIMAL TESTING THAT WAS CONDUCTED OR CONTRACTED BY OR FOR THE MANUFACTURER OR ANY ENTITY THAT SUPPLIES, DIRECTLY OR THROUGH A THIRD PARTY, ANY INGREDIENT USED BY A MANUFACTURER IN THE FORMULATION OF A COSMETIC ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2022”
Every issue of Vegetarian Journal we
review books. Recently we took a look at The
Vegan Friendly. This 304-page book offers a wide variety of recipes
including Breakfast Burritos, Toaster Pastries, Sushi, Yellow Tofu Curry, Spicy
Udon Noodle Soup, and Ice Cream Cake.
Vegans need to use vitamin B12 supplements
and/or foods fortified with vitamin B12.
People, possibly including lacto and lacto-ovo
vegetarians who eat few animal products often need to use vitamin B12
supplements and/or foods fortified with vitamin B12.
A recent study (1) adds to our knowledge about vitamin B12
and supports the U.S. recommendations that older adults (those 51 years and
older), whether or not they are vegan, use supplements and/or fortified foods
to get their vitamin B12 (2).
In this study, which was conducted in Ireland, 15% of older
adults had a condition called atrophic gastritis. People with this condition
produce low amounts of acid in their stomachs. Acid is needed to separate
vitamin B12 from protein so that it can be absorbed. The vitamin B12 in
fortified foods and supplements does not require stomach acid for absorption.
Not surprisingly, those older adults with atrophic gastritis were more likely
to be deficient in vitamin B12.
Another issue related to vitamin B12 is the use of a
category of drugs called proton pump inhibitors. These medications are used to
suppress stomach acid and to treat conditions like reflux and ulcers. Because
these drugs reduce stomach acid, they also reduce vitamin B12 absorption. In
the study from Ireland, proton pump inhibitors were used for more than 6 months
by more than a third of older adults. Those taking higher doses (more than 30
milligrams daily) had a higher risk of vitamin B12 deficiency.
Although older adults using vitamin B12-fortified foods 5 or
more times a week were at lower risk of developing a deficiency of vitamin B12,
some older adults using fortified foods, especially those with atrophic
gastritis, were at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency. This may be because of the
relatively low amount of vitamin B12 used to fortify foods in Ireland.
Vitamin B12 deficiency in older adults has been associated
with depression, confusion, dementia, poorer bone health, and heart disease (3)
so it is important that older adults are aware of the need to get their vitamin
B12 from supplements and fortified foods.
That’s where vegans come in. Many of us are aware of the
need for vitamin B12 supplements; we know which foods are fortified with
vitamin B12. We can share this information with older friends and family
members who should be using fortified foods and/or supplements as their main
source of vitamin B12.
1. Porter KM, Hoey L, Hughes CF, et al. Associations of
atrophic gastritis and proton-pump inhibitor drug use with vitamin B-12 status,
and the impact of fortified foods, in older adults. Am J Clin Nutr.
2021;114(4):1286-1294.
2. Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board: Dietary
Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B-6, Folate, Vitamin
B-12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline. Washington, DC: National Academy
Press, 1998.
3. Porter K, Hoey L, Hughes CF, Ward M, McNulty H. Causes,
consequences and public health implications of low B-vitamin status in ageing. Nutrients.
2016;8(11):725.
Each issue of Vegetarian Journal
includes a column titled Vegan Action. The recent issue features Scott Williams
who runs Camp4Real in Virginia. Williams engages kids with not only healthy
exercise but also healthy, plant-based diets. Read the article here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2021issue4/2021_issue4_vegan_action.php
Due to the generosity of an
anonymous donor, The Vegetarian Resource Group each year will award $20,000 in college
scholarship money to graduating U.S. high school students who have promoted
veganism/vegetarianism in their schools and/or communities. Vegetarians do not
eat meat, fish, or fowl. Vegans are vegetarians who do not use other animal
products such as dairy or eggs.
One award of $10,000 and two awards
of $5,000 will be given. Entries may only be sent by students
graduating from high school in spring 2022. Deadline is February
20, 2022. We will accept applications postmarked on or before February
20, 2021. Early submission is encouraged!
Applicants will be judged on having
shown compassion, courage, and a strong commitment to promoting a peaceful
world through a vegan/vegetarian diet/lifestyle. Payment will be made to the
student’s college (U.S. based only). Winners of the scholarships give
permission to release their names to the media. Applications and essays become
property of The Vegetarian Resource Group. We may ask finalists for more
information. Scholarship winners are contacted by e-mail or telephone. Please
look at your e-mail.
In October and November 2021, Alimentando El Mañana offered
its first 40 hour-professional –course in
Spanish geared towards Latin American health professionals: Plant-Based Food:
Health, Culture, and Sustainability. The course provided an update on whole
food, plant-based nutrition and food preparation. A whole food, plant-based
diet can be a vegan diet, mainly composed of whole foods. The course took place
online in three hour-long, weekly sessions for 7 weeks, reaching around 200
participants. It covered the public health and ecological benefits, nutritional
approach, and cooking recommendations for whole food, plant-based diets. The
course consisted of 5 modules based on scientific evidence: 1. Food and Public
Health; 2. Food and Culture; 3. Food and Socio-environmental Impact; 4.
Plant-Based Food and Clinical Nutrition Approach; and 5. Plant-Based
Cooking.
Classes were dynamic since most of them contained activities
that permitted interactions between numerous participants. At the end of every
lecture, there was a question section of about 15 minutes. If necessary, you
could contact the lecturers by email and receive a prompt answer.
Alimentando El Mañana selected lecturers from South America who
are recognized as experts in the topics that they taught. An attempt was made
to include diverse lecturers in order to fulfill policies of inclusiveness from
Sinergia Animal. They could not have chosen a better team.
Constanza Romero Waldhorn brilliantly explained the first
part of module 1. Dietary Patterns and Non-Communicable Diseases, and all of module
4. Plant-Based Food and Clinical Nutrition Approach. A nutritionist since 2017,
Constanza is the president of the Chilean Association of Vegetarian
Nutritionists.
Lecturer Romero Waldhorn clearly and dynamically explained
remarkable epidemiological studies, such as EPIC (European Prospective
Investigation of Cancer and Nutrition)-Oxford, and the Adventist Health Study-2.
Because of their large sample sizes of thousands of participants, these studies
allow significant comparisons in their level of risk of developing
non-communicable chronic diseases to be made between omnivores, vegetarians,
and vegans. Lecturer Romero Waldhorn also shared position statements from
official nutrition associations around the world regarding plant-based diets,
such as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) from the United States, the
British Dietetic Association (BDA), the Italian Society of Human Nutrition
(SINU), the Argentine Society of Nutrition, the Ministry of Health of New
Zealand, and Dietitians of Canada. All these associations strongly state that
vegetarian diets are healthy and nutritionally adequate. Some associations
stress the benefits of these diets for the treatment and prevention of
non-communicable chronic diseases and also highlight their ecological
superiority.
Cynthia Schuck-Paim, PhD, was the lecturer for the second
part of module 1. Food Production Systems: Impacts on Global Health, Epidemics,
and Other Epidemiological Risk. She is a remarkable researcher with more than
50 published scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Schuck-Paim’s
research focuses on epidemiology, respiratory diseases, and pandemics, and her
latest work is on health and wellness in farm animals.
Her presentation led us to the origins of many food-derived
pandemics such as the coronavirus, SARS, chicken-flu, and pork-flu pandemics.
She taught us how a plant-based diet can decrease the risks of the next
pandemic outbreak.
In module 2. Food and Culture, we had the pleasure to work
with Dr. Alexandra Navarro, one of the two managers of Food Policies for
Argentina, together with Dr. María Marta Andreatta. Dr. Navarro’s doctoral
research focused on representations, culture, and identities that sustain the
consumption of animal food products in Argentina. Her objective was to
understand which elements were fundamental to creating a positive change in the
cultural perceptions of plant-based diets.
An example of an obstinate barrier was Speciesism-based
education. Speciesism is the discriminatory ideology in which some species are
more important than others. Speciesism-based education continues with the violence
towards farm animals by making them invisible, degrading them to things, and
creating a fiction where they voluntarily give up their meat. Anthropocentrism was at the center of her model;
therefore, this was the hardest barrier to overcome.
Lia Alviar Ramírez, MEM, and Dr. Paula Mira Bohorquez taught
module 3. Food and Socio-environmental Impact. Lecturer Alviar Ramírez is an
experienced professor in agricultural sciences, who has received multiple
awards throughout her career. Dr. Mira Bohorquez obtained her PhD at Mannheim
University and has published five scientific articles and one book, among other
publications. She has been a professor at Antioquia University since 2005.
Lecturer Alviar Ramírez and Dr. Mira Bohorquez easily and
passionately explained how current food and economic systems are unsustainable.
Lecturer Alviar Ramírez concentrated on the advantages of traditional
cultivation methods, used by indigenous people, and the disadvantages and
hazards of continuing with conventional methods. Dr. Mira Bohorquez clearly exposed the topic
of climate change along with the weaknesses of the current economic systems,
arguing that it should be regulated according to human health and world limits,
food sovereignty of nations, and the basic human rights every person
deserves.
Lecturer Romero Waldhorn came back in module 4 to present
the latest scientific evidence related to plant-based diets and the life cycle,
illustrating that it is completely possible and healthy to follow a plant-based
diet in all life stages, including pregnancy. In addition, she shared with us
recommendations for treatment adherence and the consultation process.
Finally, Chef Maria Camila Mosos, also known as Maca Bites,
kindly guided us throughout a culinary journey. She has conducted personalized
cooking workshops since 2019. Her passion is inspiring other people through her
plant-based culinary creations while at the same time showing the great
diversity of Latin American foods and highlighting the valuable work of
farmers.
In module 5, Maca encouraged us to confidently create tasty
and healthy plant-based meals. From simple changes to incredibly inspiring
transitions, she debunked the myth that plant-based food is boring and
tasteless.
During the course, participants were granted access to
books, scientific articles, and other virtual resources to prepare for every
lecture or for further study. Additionally, one week before the online exam,
access was granted to the recorded lectures. A satisfactory grade in the online
exam led to an international certification.
The next course geared towards nutritionists and health
professionals will take place in April and September 2022. Institutions can
participate by enrolling their nutritionists in the course on its website https://www.alimentandoelmanana.org/
or they can visit its Facebook page Alimentando El Mañana. To participate,
institutions need to have a cafeteria where employees eat at least once a day,
and they have to commit to offering one plant-based menu once a week.
Alimentando El Mañana is conscious that every institution has its own needs and
requirements, so negotiations are possible provided the objective of one
plant-based menu per week is accomplished in the long term.
Alimentando El Mañana (Feeding Tomorrow) is one of the
programs of Sinergia Animal, an international non-governmental organization.
The young program, founded in 2019, aims to promote the reduction of animal
food product consumption by teaching how to create healthier, more sustainable,
and affordable menus, to ensure that future generations inherit a habitable and
just planet. Despite being quite a young program, Alimentando El Mañana has
already convinced nine institutions in Colombia to offer plant-based menus once
a week, and at least nine institutions in Argentina are interested in the
program.
These countries are not the only ones where Alimentando El
Mañana is working. Two culinary demonstrations have taken place in a monastery
in Thailand, and 19 schools and six companies have also been informed about the
program. Furthermore, 50 institutions have been reached in Indonesia.
In the future, Alimentando El Mañana plans to train the
maximum possible number of nutritionists, health professionals, and public and
private institutions in Argentina, Colombia, Indonesia, and Thailand. However,
after attending their professional updating course for health professionals, I
believe they will soon reach other countries wherever there are Spanish
speakers, since many students, including me, expressed our great satisfaction with the
course.
Odette is from Mexico and recently completed her master’s in
nutrition and health at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. She completed
an internship with The Vegetarian Resource Group under the supervision of Reed
Mangels, PhD, RD and wrote these articles:
Quik Tea offers a blend of various South Asian spices united with plant-based coconut milk in convenient packaging. Vegan flavors include Cardamom, Lemongrass, Madras Coffee, Masala, and Turmeric Ginger. Read our Vegetarian Journal review here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2021issue4/2021_issue4_veggie_bits.php
The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on veganism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics, and world hunger. We have been helping health professionals, food services, businesses, educators, students, vegans, and vegetarians since 1982. In addition to publishing the Vegan Journal, VRG produces and sells a number of books.
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