0 ≠ 0 (label claims, serving sizes, and a little truth)
Posted by Joel Marion
A little while back I sent you an email with the subject “1+1=3?”, informing you of the unstoppable synergy that occurs when you combine a killer metabolic resistance training program like Turbulence Training along with my Cheat Your Way Thin diet system.
And today, I’m back with another stellar math lesson to wow your friends with: 0 does NOT equal 0.
Sounds like some ass-backwards calculus nonsense, I know, but it’s actually a very practical equation. Or should I say “non-quation” (Yes, I know they’re called inequalities, but non-quation sounds WAY cooler to me, and it’s my blog).
Let me explain.
This morning, I sat down to a bowl of Bran Flakes. It was a rather large bowl, because hey, not only do I preach big breakfasts, I eat them, too.
To that bowl I added two packets of Splenda (now, before anyone responds freaking out about me using two packets of Splenda, you can find my thoughts on artificial sweeteners [backed by actual research] here).
And as I sat there, enchanted by the morning anthems of the neighboring fowl, enjoying my flakes of bran, the label on that little yellow box happened to catch my eye.
You see, the label read “0” calories and “0” grams of sugar per packet. After all, that’s the whole point of using an artificial sweetener – to avoid both of the aforementioned.
That said, I couldn’t help but feel as though Mr. Splenda wasn’t telling me the whole story. In fact, I knew he wasn’t, because, well, I’m “in the know”. And today, when you leave this blog post, you’ll do so in a similar position.
If you know anything about ingredient lists on labels, you know that the ingredients are listed by quantity. That is to say, if something appears first within the lists of ingredients, that particular food item contains more of that ingredient than everything else listed thereafter. If it’s dead last, probably not so much.
The list of ingredients on each 1 gram packet of Splenda reads: dextrose, maltodextrin, sucralose.
Now, sucralose is the artificial sweetener commonly refered to as Splenda, but what about the dextrose and maltodextrin? According to the list of ingredients, there is actually MORE of these ingredients than there is sucralose.
Answer: dextrose is sugar, and maltodextrin might as well be (it’s GI is actually significantly higher than table sugar).
So, why is it in there and just exactly how does that equate to zero calories?
Well, the problem with artificial sweeteners like sucralose and aspartame is that they are so sweet that only an extremely small amount is necessary to replicate the sweetness of sugar, an amount too small to “package”, thus the necessity of carriers like dextrose and maltodextrin. That said, both dextrose and maltodextrin do contain calories, and each possesses a rather high GI.
Why then does the label say 0 calories?
Here’s the rule. If a serving of a food item contains less than 1 grams of a nutrient, it need not be counted on the label. In reality, a 1 gram packet of Splenda contains about .1 gram of sucralose and .9 grams of “sugar”. Still, it’s less than a gram, so the product is listed as calorie-free.
Not a major issue if you’re only using a packet or two, but I knew a guy in college that probably used about 30 – 40 packets worth of artificial sweeteners per day. That ain’t 0 calories. In fact, it’s actually more than 100 calories of pure sugar from what is supposed to be a sugar-free, calorie-free product.
Hoodwinked we’ve been.
Oh, and have you ever used calorie-free, fat free cooking spray? The stuff is pure oil. Zero calories? Well, if you use the ridiculously small “1/3 of a second” spray that might coat the pan from my niece’s Malibu Barbie Dream House kitchen set, then yes, it’s less than one gram of fat, and “legally” zero calories.
But if you’re human (not plastic) and you possess normal-sized cookware, think twice before you succumb to the manufacturing giants’ notion that you’re cooking calorie-free. You’re not. Better than coating the pan with a brush lathered in oil? Yes. Calorie-free? No.
And that’s the problem with serving sizes. Often times manufacturers will adjust the serving size to a unrealistic quantity in order to be able to claim “zero” or at least a lower number of calories per serving. To give you a perfect example, one that I just today came in contact with: Vitamin Water 10. Only 10 calories!
Per 8 oz.
Now why would they put the serving size on a 20 oz individual-sized bottle as 8 oz? I don’t know anyone who is buying a Vitamin Water and drinking it in 8 oz intervals. You buy a bottle, you drink the bottle. And you know what? They don’t even sell an 8 oz bottle. That’s called bogus.
I say all that to say this: be mindful of “zero” claims and serving sizes. Sure, these products may be better alternatives to whatever they are substituting for, but you can’t just pile ’em high and pretend that the calories aren’t adding up.
Zero aint zero, my friend.
Find this post helpful? Question? Comment? At least 50 replies and I’ll be back with more content tomorrow!
Talk to you in the comments section,
Joel
Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...