Better food info, smarter choices

If you’re like many Americans, a half cup of ice cream just isn’t going to cut it when it comes to indulgences.

That’s the standard serving size ice cream companies must cite on labels meant to inform consumers how many calories they’re consuming and the nutrient content of the treat.

If people want to figure out how many calories they’re actually tossing down, they are probably going to have to do some math.

That’s one of the reasons the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposed changes to nutritional labels are a good idea.

Adjusting serving sizes to more closely match reality could make consumers think twice about whether they really want to ingest all those calories.

For instance, the new label would set one cup of ice cream as a serving, which strikes us as a more reasonable approximation of how much people are likely to eat.

The new labels also are more clearly designed, in our opinion, to highlight important facts.

Another significant change that has caused a stir involves the way sugar is accounted for.

The new labels would require food manufacturers to specify how much sugar was added during production and packaging— that is, sugar that is not naturally occurring.

Food industry groups have objected to the added sugar designation, saying added sugar often is chemically identical to sugar already in a product, so differentiation is not helpful.

We part ways with the industry opponents on this point. Consumers could use this information to figure out, for instance, if there is an acceptable alternative product that has less or no added sugar.

When it’s all said and done, consumers do better with more information, clearly presented, so they can make smart choices.