Snacks with added fiber a part of Nutrition Facts delay

Snack bars, cereals and brownies with added fiber may not appear as filling under a new labeling rule.

A little-discussed aspect of the revamped Nutrition Facts panel, which was postponed this week, is that it could change what ingredients products like Fiber One bars can count as dietary fiber.

The Food and Drug Administration says added ingredients need to have a health benefit to be counted as fiber on the new panel. And many ingredients that are currently used to boost fiber counts haven’t yet gotten the green light to keep doing so.

General Mills Inc., for instance, says its Fiber One brownie has 90 calories and 5 grams of fiber. The brownie lists ingredients like sugarcane fiber and xanthan gum, which are among those being reviewed by the FDA.

Bridget Christenson, a General Mills representative, said the FDA has received “more than ample scientific support” for the ingredients the company uses to boost fiber. She said General Mills does not expect it will need to make any recipe changes.

So far, the FDA has cleared seven fiber ingredients to be counted as fiber. Clearance is pending for another 26 ingredients.

Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said she thinks food makers “will convince the FDA to approve most of the 26 fibers,” since it’s not that difficult to demonstrate some health effect on traits like bowel function. But she said the problem is that such added fibers may lead people to think foods like snack bars are healthier treats.

“Our position is that none of these fibers should count,” Liebman said of the 26 fibers under review and five of the seven that have been approved.

Products with labels touting fiber on their packaging accounted for $12.34 billion in U.S. sales for the year that ended April 1, according to Nielsen.

The ingredients in question include only synthetic fibers or fibers that have been isolated from foods - not those that occur naturally and are kept intact. So the fiber from oatmeal or chopped apples could continue to be counted as fiber. But isolated “apple fiber” is among the ingredients the FDA is reviewing, as well as gum acacia, pea fiber and rice bran fiber.