Experts trying to devise best way to present nutrition information

It's a no-brainer that a small baked potato is a better nutritional choice than a large order of greasy french fries. But when it comes to comparing the nutritional attributes of many other foods, the possibilities can get pretty confusing.

Is a bowl of oatmeal better than whole-wheat waffles or a pumpernickel bagel? Is a small, lean steak a smarter choice than fried fish sticks? Is spinach superior to peas, corn or carrots? And is it better to get bone-building calcium from a glass of skim milk, a cup of fruit yogurt sweetened with a sugar substitute, or calcium-fortified orange juice?

"Even a trained nutritionist can get dizzy comparing foods that have very different amounts of, say, sodium, saturated fat, vitamin C and dietary fiber," says Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group.

The Food and Drug Administration has been holding hearings on how best to make those choices easier for consumers -- without adding to the confusion.

Experts call this nutrition profiling. Think of it as a quick guide to food shopping. Where nutrition labels provide valuable information about protein, carbohydrates, fat, sodium and other topics, nutrition profiling gives a product a symbol on the front of the package, making it easy to spot, grab and go.

"Simple front-label icons could be a real breakthrough in reaching people who are less motivated than a heart disease victim or diabetic to study the several dozen numbers on a nutrition label," said Jacobson, whose group has petitioned the FDA to consider adding nutrition icons to food labels.

But what symbol is most effective and what nutritional criteria should be used to award it? Will consumers even use the symbols to make better choices, or just be overwhelmed by the information? Those are questions that FDA officials say they hope to answer.

Several nongovernment groups already award symbols to products to help point consumers to better nutritional options. The American Heart Association gives a check mark to products that have been certified to be low in fat, cholesterol and sodium. To earn a check, these products also must contain at least 10 percent of one or more of six essential nutrients or have whole grains and fiber.

The Boston-based Whole Grains Council also grants companies the right to label products containing a sufficient amount of whole grains with a golden wheat stamp.

Some major food companies also are getting into the act. Kraft and PepsiCo -- along with grocery chains Hannaford and Harris Teeter -- have developed systems to rate food products according to their nutritional attributes.

The trouble is that these approaches are not standardized to judge what's healthful -- and what's not. "The proliferation of different nutrition symbols on food packaging, well-intended as it may be, is likely to further confuse, rather than assist, American consumers who are trying to make good nutrition choices for themselves and their families," notes Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.

Harkin says he plans to introduce legislation requiring the FDA to establish one set of nutrition symbols. "The FDA should take meaningful steps to establish some consistency to these many different systems of nutrition symbols," he notes.

In the United Kingdom, the government has already stepped in. A traffic light symbol on food packages alerts consumers to a product's total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt content. A red light signals high amounts; yellow shows medium; green, low levels. The European Parliament also is considering nutritional profiling of food. Other efforts are under way in France.

Until scientists, industry and the federal government standardize nutrition profiling, there are tools available to help you make smart choices -- if you're willing to invest the time to use them.

* Daily Value. Find this on the nutrition facts label and use it to gauge how rich a product is in various nutrients. The FDA says that a daily value of 5 percent or less is a low amount; 20 percent or more is high.

* Ingredients lists. Products list ingredients in descending order, so the higher an ingredient is on the list, the more a product contains.

* Serving size. That small bag of pretzels or that bottle of soda may look like a single serving, but read the label to be sure.

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