You are what you eat, and all too often, what we eat is not necessarily good for us. While nutrition labels provide some help to consumers, Shaw’s Supermarkets has introduced a new color-coded labeling system called nutrition iQ to help shoppers find foods that are better for you.
The point person for Shaw’s is Jennifer Shea, the retail East dietitian for the supermarket chain on the East Coast. In 2009, she was awarded the Women of Influence in the Food Industry Award by the Griffin Report of Food Marketing.
Providence Business News asked Shea to explain what makes the new nutrition iQ system a better way to help consumers to better manage what they eat – and improve their health.
PBN: Are there measurable health impacts that you hope to see from nutrition iQ? Do you think that better nutritional information that is part of Shaw’s nutrition iQ program will help to reduce, say, the current epidemic of obesity and the high incidence of diabetes?
SHEA: We hope that nutrition iQ will make is easier for shoppers to find better-for-you foods to help them manage their health – whether they just want to follow a healthy diet or are managing certain chronic diseases.
The nutrition iQ program can help people who are trying to simply eat well, lose weight, manage their blood pressure and cholesterol levels and those living with diabetes make healthier choices in the supermarket.
People with diabetes have at least twice the risk of heart disease than people without diabetes; therefore, highlighting heart-healthy choices is beneficial. All food items that display a nutrition iQ shelf tag meet specific criteria for saturated fat and sodium and in some cases sugar. Products exceeding a certain level of saturated fat or sodium do not qualify for a shelf tag.
In addition, people living with diabetes can use the nutrition iQ shelf tags to readily identify food items with low levels of saturated fat and sodium, good or excellent sources of fiber or sources of whole grains. Evidence shows that choosing carbohydrate foods that contain fiber and whole grains play a significant role in diabetes management, as well as weight management.
We also offer a variety of shopping lists online and at our pharmacy counter that serve as a guide in our stores. Those shopping lists include: high fiber, heart smart, diabetes friendly, blood pressure friendly, low sodium and kids health. We also offer gluten-free shopping lists for those customers who are looking for gluten-free foods.
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PBN: Why do you think that consumers are confused about nutritional guidelines? Is there too much information in the marketplace?
SHEA: There is a lot of information and misinformation in the marketplace. We’ve taken FDA guidelines and science and worked with the Joslin Clinic, a medical center affiliated with Harvard Medical School, to develop a science-based program that evaluates products regardless of price and manufacturer. We’ve done the hard work for our customers and have identified truly better for you options.
Each center store product that gets a tag has been strict criteria to be lower in sodium, saturated fat and in some cases sugar – and then they’re evaluated for positive attributes – such as good source of protein, good source of calcium, excellent source of fiber. The nutrition iQ system gives you quick and easy to read information and is not intended as a substitute for the information provided on the product’s Nutrition Facts Labels. We strongly recommend you keep using the Nutrition Facts Panel and ingredients list.
PBN: Will the new nutrition iQ program provide Shaw’s with a competitive edge over rivals such as Stop & Shop and Whole Foods?
SHEA: While I cannot comment on our competitors, nutrition iQ is a unique nutrition program designed to help you make better-for-you food choices. We have eliminated much of the guesswork. Using FDA Nutrient Content Claims as a framework, we’ve created a program based on sound science; nutrition iQ is unique because in order to qualify for the program, food items are screened for limited levels of sodium, saturated fat and in some cases sugar.
Qualifying products are evaluated to determine the top one or two nutritional benefits. It’s important to us to provide a credible at-a-glance guide shoppers can trust, while at the same time giving them the information they need to make nutritious choices. My favorite part of the store is produce – and you’ll find signs throughout produce that identify what a fruit or veggie has in it that’s beneficial to the body and why it is.
For example, peaches provide a good source of vitamin C, which is important for skin and immune health. That is truly helpful information for a mom who is shopping for foods that may help boost her kids’ immune system this upcoming school year.
PBN: Within the current color coded labels, there does not appear to be any way of distinguishing sugar content, or what kind of sweetener source? Why?
SHEA: There are no FDA guidelines for sugar content. However, a specific sugar level was used to qualify products for nutrition iQ in many categories. For each category that contains a sugar qualifying criteria, a base level of naturally occurring sugar was established. To qualify, products had to have no more than 25 percent of calories coming from added sugar.
For example, in the cereal aisle, products that have a nutrition iQ tag have less than 25 percent of calories from added sugar after a four-gram sugar base level. A base sugar level is established in each category to take into account the natural occurring sugars found in wheat, oats, corn and rice products.
Baked goods, canned fruits and vegetables, cereals, condiments, dried fruit, pasta sauce, salsa, snacks and yogurt are all screened for sugar. Many foods, like fruit and unsweetened yogurt, naturally contain sugar. The sugar that Americans eat much too much of is added sugars – like white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, honey, raw sugar, brown sugar, sucrose and more.
PBN: How is this new labeling effort being supported by social media?
SHEA: Shaw’s is actively discussing nutrition iQ on Facebook, where I post health and wellness tips that incorporate nutrition iQ, great recipes using nutrition iQ qualifying items. There is also a video posted that shows how shopping for colors in your carriage will promote your health. Additionally, on July 28, I held a nutrition iQ Facebook chat on our Facebook page, where fans could ask their nutrition questions and learn more about the program. Find us on Facebook and stay tuned for more! You’ll also see a section devoted to nutrition iQ on our Shaw’s website www.shaws.com/healthy-eating.
