Many Can't Interpret Food Labels

Our schools need massive improvement if this is how poorly adults do. Maybe we need extensive public education programs.

Interesting. Many people can barely read and comprehend as it is. Reading a dietary label is very confusing and exhausting, and I'm not stupid!

That's scary, but at the same time unless you have at some point taken the time to figure out how the food labels work, they ARE misleading. I say this because I think most people don't pay attention to the information about the number of servings supposed to be represented and assume the information applies to the entire contents, and much of that serving information is unrealistic. How many people are likely to drink half a bottle of soda that's supposed to contain 2 1/2 servings?

Although I can "do the math" sometimes the unrealistic serving sizes make it a bit of a pain. Why not provide nutritional information for the whole package. Then I can decide for myself how many servings it contains and compute nutritional values with a simple division problem.

LOL, Linda, What's the difference between multiplying nutritional content by the number of servings and dividing the total nutritional content by the number of servings? If most Americans can't count, they can't count anyway.

Another example of the "dumbing down" of our country. For whatever reason, it is happening - our educational system is failing us, which bodes ill for our nation's future.

The 'dumbing down' is also very evident in many of the newer cookbooks. It's pitiful when you have to explain very simple cooking terms such as saute or what a 'water bath' means in cooking.

Sonia....that is sooo true....!

Yes -- more reasons to get government out of education, and give kids choice and competition to make the schools better! The labels can be on the confusing side, but also many claims made by the big companies are misleading and inaccurate. Like the new "whole grain" Fig Newtons still have corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. Stick with organics whenever possible, buy local (farmers' markets) and shun the hype. And why not volunteer to help tutor some needy kids? That could really help out.

we need to have better education and life skills courses taught in schools.

Carol....life skills need to be taught by parents...it is part of parenting....then reinforced at school......what we really need to to do is forget the "leave no student behind"bull manure & go back to teaching basics instead of "new" "modern" conceptual bull manure...! If little Billy fails then he gets left behind...if little Mary is an indiot then she flunks...too bad...so sad.... but that is relaity...!

I agree with Carol, as a life course was required when I attended school and wasn't when I was a teacher. Simple math was a major problem and some of the students felt they should be able to use their calculators. The school board told me I was being to hard on the students. I no longer teach, as I refused to dumb down the class, as the best students weren't allowed to work ahead according to the school.

I am certain part of the problem is the new labels that say whole grain, pure, good for you are just a few words I found on some packages in my home. These words don't tell me anything about the calories, carbs or the ingredients.

Hi Donald
The real problem many parents aren't home to teach life skills or any skills and students would come in wearing whatever and in some cases hungry, so the school provided breakfast.

I see this discussion as representing circular problems that are approaching insurmountable proportions. How can our children learn if they aren't getting the nutrition their brains need for optimum performance? How can our children get the proper nutrition if they and their parents have trouble understanding food labels? How can a school teach efficiently if the teachers are required to hold back the faster learners while pushing the slower ones almost beyond their capability? How can you expect anyone to think for themselves and interpret the information around them if you supress curiosity and free thinking because you are devoting all your teaching time to a set of basic knowledge proscribed by a law (no child left behind)?

By far, the teachers I learned the most from are named Curiosity and Experience. The most I learned in High School was how to be average because everybody gets scared when you show a level of intelligence greater than needed for the task at hand.