I had meant to blog about this ages ago but it got lost in bookmark limbo.
It has to do with a book, McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods that has been collecting information in Britain about just that, the composition of foods (ingredients).
Not sure who it was that noticed it first, but low and behold, food's getting sweeter (and likely as a consequence higher in calories).
Keep in mind, the graphic above refers to British cereal (compositions vary the world over) however I would be shocked to learn that the same weren't true in North America.
And of course, it's not just mass produced items - can anyone out there remember fruit and berries that taste as sweet as today's do?
Strange world and only getting stranger.
[Via The Daily Mail]
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
The World Gets Sweeter
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4 comments:
I grew up on a fruit farm and to me, fruit (and vegetables) today is almost flavorless -- especially compared to fresh off the tree/bush. The thing that always makes me shake my head though is that there's sugar in toothpaste.
Fruit & veggies in the mainstream groceries have no flavour to me. Hence the much-anticipated arrival of Farmers Market season in our household.
As for packaged foods, I'm not surprised that sugar content increases over time. I'm not sure about Canada (my Rice Krispie box appears to be similar to the UK numbers), but I know a lot of products in the US have higher sugar content than their EU counterparts. Apparently food corps recognize the penchant for sweetness in the US.
One might also want to check the evolution of "serving size". I've only been consuming "Kashi GoLean" cereal since 2003, and between then and 2007, the package front numbers for protein and fiber per serving jumped up -- but the "serving size" listed in the nutritional panel also jumped up (from 40 g to 52 g), explaining the rise.
Interesting...I'm new to your blog and have alot of catch up to do...but so far very intersting.
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