Nutrition information was meant to help others become healthier and aware. The fitness community spends hundreds of hours trying to educate the public on how to eat and how to read packaging. So, what happens when food labeling becomes the enemy? How does this even happen? Harvard University viewed food labels as a potential threat to their over achieving student body and a actually removed certain information!
Harvard University removed nutritional information from its menu because some students and parents raised concerns about the impact of this information on people with eating disorders. Namely, that this kind of information might trigger some people toward disordered eating (source).
WTF … this could be compared to taking the percent of alcohol content off of all the lables in the liquor store to prevent you from being an alcoholic! My personal view is that removing information from labels in schools doesn’t do anyone any favors. If your tendency is to have a disorder, then no label in this world is going to sway you one way or the other.
Write in and let us know what you think about food labels and eating disorders. We always love to hear from our readers!
Adria Ali
Queenangel says