Is the term "low fat" the same as "reduced fat"?

Question

My boyfriend and I have been deliberating this for a while. It's stupid yes, but unresolved none the less. What do you think?

Answer 1

They are not the same.

Reduced fat means that food has 25% less calories than a food of normal fat and calorie content of that category.

Low Fat means less than 3 grams of fat per 100 grams of food.



We have a federal agency that does nothing but verify these claims. Check out the FDA link.

Answer 2

Similar, but not identical. Reduced fat implies that some process was used to reduce the fat content initially present. Low fat suggests that the fat content may have been low to start with, by choice of ingredients; a process to reduce it has not necessarily been applied (although it could have been).

Answer 3

No. Chicken breast is low fat, in that it is naturally low in fat. Reduced fat means that the way something is prepared, it has had fat removed. For example, if you buy bread from a certain brand, and that brand puts out a reduced fat type of bread, it only means that the new type of bread has less fat than the old bread. It could still have plenty of fat.

example: Reduced fat oreos, not low in fat, just less than normal oreos.

Answer 4

Low fat means it has less than 3% fat and reduced fat means the original amount has been cut by 20%

Answer 5

No, Low fat is as little as possible while reduced fat is a reduced version of the origanal. Reduced is only about 20% lower then the origanal

Answer 6

No it is not the same. You could have a very "high fat" diet and reduce it just a little bit and that would be "reduced fat" diet but still be kinda high. "Low fat" is just plain "low fat."

Answer 7

Definitions of claims on food labels

Calorie Free – fewer than 5 calories per serving
Fat Free – less than 0.5g per serving
Sodium Free – less than 5mg of sodium per serving
Low Sodium – this means a large quantity of the food can be consumed without exceeding the Recommended Dietary Value for the nutrient.
Sugar Free – less than 0.5g per serving
Low Calorie – contains 40 calories or less per serving
Low Cholesterol – 20mg or less and 2g or less of saturated fat per serving
Low Fat – contains 1g or less per serving
Low Saturated Fat – contains 1g or less per serving
Low Sodium – contains 140mg or less per serving
Very Low Sodium – contains 35mg or less per serving
Lean – used in the description of the fat content of meat, poultry, seafood and game meats; less then 10mg of fat, 4.5g or less of saturated fat, and less than 95mg cholesterol per serving for every 100g of product
Extra Lean – less than 5g of fat, less than 2g of saturated fat and less than 95mg cholesterol per serving for every 100g of product
Good Source – this means that one serving has 10-19% of the RDA for a particular nutrient
High – used when food contains 20% of more of the RDA for a nutrient in one serving
Light – this term can mean two things:
1.A nutritionally altered product has 1/3 fewer calories or ½ the fat of the referenced food
2.the sodium content of a low calorie, low-fat food ahs been decreased by 50%
Less – a food, altered or not, contains 25% less of a nutrient or of calories than the referenced food
More – a serving contains a nutrient that is at least 10% of the daily value more than the referenced food. This term also applies to “fortified”, “enriched” and “added”, when the food has been altered.
Percent fat free – the product with this claim must be low-fat or fat-free. It reflects the amount of fat in every 100g of product. For example: 95% fat free would have 5g fat for every 100g of product.
Reduced – the nutritionally altered product has 25% less of a nutrient or of calories than the referenced product.