PANEL: VITAMINS' "PERCENT DAILY VALUE" IS WAY OFF

"The familiar 'percent Daily Value' figures included in Nutrition Facts boxes, which are required on the labels of most food products in both countries, are not based on the most current scientific information," said a federal advisory panel on Thursday. The amount of vitamins and minerals recommended as part of a healthy diet should be drastically changed to more closely resemble the needs of an average person, they said. If the FDA adopts the changes, the recommended daily values of some vitamins and minerals would change dramatically. For example, the amount of iron and Vitamin B-12 that is recommended each day would be cut by two-thirds. Vitamin D would also be reduced. The recommendations for fiber and Vitamin C, meanwhile, would increase slightly under the proposed changes. Hmmmm. What does that diet sound like?

And not only that..."Some of the strongest recommendations come in urging regulatory agencies to reduce daily allowances of cholesterol, saturated fats and trans fats to as low a level as possible and to set one combined daily limit for saturated and trans-fatty acids. That could mean recommending consumers eat as little as half the daily amount of saturated fat currently recommended." Hmmm. What kind of food is high in saturated fat? Heck, the panel may as well have come out and simply said "The average American should be striving toward veganism" and been done with it.