Food Labelling to prevent Obesity?

This week, SBS's "insight" discussed the obesity epidemic in it's programme entitled "A Gutful".
The discussion revolved around the perceived causes of the growing levels of obesity in our society and what can be done to prevent and reverse the current situation.

Are we an Obesogenic Society? What are the causes? And ... What measures can we take to prevent the advance of Obesity on us?

The expert audience included Professor Boyd Swinburn of Deakin University; a number of high profile Dietitians, including those from The Biggest Loser (Claire Collins) and Kellogs (Rebecca Bousted); high profile Chefs such as Stephanie Alexander; and representaives form various bodies such as Kate Carnell from the Aust. Food and Grocery Council, and Rob Moodie from the Preventative Health TaskForce.

All agreed that our diets and activity levels have undergone a major revolution in a very short time frame. Also agreed was that this revolution that makes food more accessible and convenient, and that has seen us significantly reduce our activity levels is the major contributor to the major health risk factor that Obesity is.

Much of the discussion revolved around food labelling and making it easier for people to understand what they were putting into their bodies in the name of food.

The thing that bothered me the most was that while I agree there is a need for food labelling that is easier to understand, the labelling criteria focused on only some of the picture!

The % RDI system was discussed, as was the Traffic Light System - both in respect to "Front of Package Labelling". BUT they seem to be concerned with only the standard items: Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Sugars, Sodium levels, and sometimes Fibre.
NOWHERE was there any mention of adding information regarding the overall load of the Vitamin and Mineral Content - the Micronutrient content! The macronutrients that give us our basic energy are important ( Fats, Carbs and Proteins), but so are the micronutrients as they are vital for our bodies metabolic processes.

Much talk was given to the apparently excessive amounts of sugar and fats and sodium in some products, but for my piece, I would take a product with moderate sugar /fat / sodium levels and high vitamin / mineral content over a low/non/fake sugar product or 'nil fat' product with either no or very little micronutient load. And on the basis that my clients don't have health issues that proclude them from this course of action, I recommend them to do the same. Why?
Think about it and come back to get the answer tomorrow!

If you must eat from packets, make an informed decision.
Consider the macronutrient and micronutrient levels and the balance between them to get the 'best bang for your buck' when deciding what to include as fuel in your daily intake.

To find out more about Insight's "A gutful" please go to http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/