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In Mexico (and many other places) they put big labels on packaged foods that have high sugar content. I spent a month there and I found it really helpful. Of co

In Mexico (and many other places) they put big labels on packaged foods that have high sugar content. I spent a month there and I found it really helpful. Of course in the US, any attempts at labelling for the benefit of consumers is fought tooth and nail by the food industry.

benatkin 2y ago
I don't think those make a big difference. I've seen them in a lot of memes. They're easy to tune out, and are on a lot of healthy food. Here's some more info on it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_labeling_in_Mexico#Labels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_labeling_in_Mexico#Labels
- standardUser 2y ago
  US nutritional info panels are far easier to tune out, but many people still find them useful. Better to give people information should they want to put extra thought into their diet as opposed to keeping things obscured and making the task that much more difficult. The Wiki article says 10% of people take the labels into consideration. If 5-10 million Mexican families eat healthier diets at the cost of simple labels covering some marketing materials, that seems like a fantastic deal for consumers.
  - benatkin 2y ago
    It's good to be able to easily access facts about food, yes. It's the warnings that I think are simply OK, they don't help much nor hurt much. For instance, most people don't need to worry about their dietary sodium, and I think in the US a lot of people could discover tasty food like soups and stir fries and curries that are high in salt and moderate their animal product consumption. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/dietary-salt-and-blood-pressure-a-complex-connection https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/dietary-salt-and... Edit: looking in that article it's good to avoid too much sodium, but a lot of people don't notice that how salty food tastes isn't always directly related to how much sodium is being consumed. Sodium deep inside of food isn't going to be as easy to taste as salt on the surface.
- Kuinox 2y ago
  An equivalent system, the nutri-score, have been showed to be extremely effective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutri-Score https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutri-Score On the french version of the page, it indicate: > it also noted the following associations for the products purchased: increase in overall food quality by 7.9%; 6% reduction in energy; 7.8% reduction in salt/sodium; 15.7% reduction in fat; 17.1% reduction in saturated fat;

benatkin 2y ago

I don't think those make a big difference. I've seen them in a lot of memes. They're easy to tune out, and are on a lot of healthy food. Here's some more info on it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_labeling_in_Mexico#Labels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_labeling_in_Mexico#Labels

standardUser 2y ago
US nutritional info panels are far easier to tune out, but many people still find them useful. Better to give people information should they want to put extra thought into their diet as opposed to keeping things obscured and making the task that much more difficult. The Wiki article says 10% of people take the labels into consideration. If 5-10 million Mexican families eat healthier diets at the cost of simple labels covering some marketing materials, that seems like a fantastic deal for consumers.
- benatkin 2y ago
  It's good to be able to easily access facts about food, yes. It's the warnings that I think are simply OK, they don't help much nor hurt much. For instance, most people don't need to worry about their dietary sodium, and I think in the US a lot of people could discover tasty food like soups and stir fries and curries that are high in salt and moderate their animal product consumption. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/dietary-salt-and-blood-pressure-a-complex-connection https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/dietary-salt-and... Edit: looking in that article it's good to avoid too much sodium, but a lot of people don't notice that how salty food tastes isn't always directly related to how much sodium is being consumed. Sodium deep inside of food isn't going to be as easy to taste as salt on the surface.
Kuinox 2y ago
An equivalent system, the nutri-score, have been showed to be extremely effective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutri-Score https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutri-Score On the french version of the page, it indicate: > it also noted the following associations for the products purchased: increase in overall food quality by 7.9%; 6% reduction in energy; 7.8% reduction in salt/sodium; 15.7% reduction in fat; 17.1% reduction in saturated fat;