Even our apples are bigger!
We all know about super-sizing of fast foods. But did you know that our apples are super-sized too? Buried in the July 25, 2006 Federal Register is a document titled “Food Labeling: Guidelines for Voluntary Nutrition Labeling of Raw Fruits, Vegetables and Fish”. It contains updates to nutrition labels for the 20 most frequently consumed raw fruits, vegetables, and fish.
It is fascinating to learn from this document that retailers are now selling significantly larger apples than those represented by serving sizes on the old nutrition labels. Apples are 57% bigger now than in 1975 when the serving size of 154 g rams was established. Large apples today have a serving size of 264 g of which 242 grams are edible.
“So what?,” you are thinking. Aren’t apples good for us? Well, yes, in fact they are a good source of dietary fiber and, of course, they are fat free. But everything we eat, even the good stuff, has calories and more calories, no matter the source, can translate into fat if we ingest more than we burn.
Here’s how super-sizing of apples translates on the new nutrition labels:
Nutrient Old nutritional values New nutritional values
Serving size 154 242
Calories 80 130
Potassium 160 mg 260 mg
Total carbohydrate 21 mg 34 mg
Dietary fiber 3 g 5 g
Sugars 16 g 25 g
Protein 0 g 1 g
Note the significant increase in the number of calories in the larger apples. Per volume of food, apples are a relatively low in energy density, particularly when compared to a candy bar or a fat-laden snack. So they fill you up with fewer calories. They are also a pretty good source of Vitamin C (one large apple has 8% of your daily recommended amount). And, they are delicious.
Just remember, if you are counting calories, to count the right amount. Because, at the end of the day --
Added (or subtracted) fat = calories ingested – calories burned