Know What You’re Buying: A Guide to Nutrition Labels
Know What You’re Buying: A Guide to Nutrition Labels
Many years back, food choices were limited to fresh whole foods.
Today, grocery stores offer numerous options in packaged foods.
But then, how can we decide which to go for?
Taste matters in a food, so does the nutrition it contains.
Therefore, food labels are the source into the nutritional value of a given food.
This article gives a detailed explanation on how to read nutrition labels, and also clarify the various health claims printed on food packages.
Now, let's look into how reading nutritional food labels can help you make smart food choices.
Food Labels … What Do They Mean?
Food serves as the fuel that keeps the body running smoothly.
However, not just any food, we need to eat highly nutritious foods. But, how do you know what nutrients your food products contain?
Well, this information can be found on “Food labels.”
Food labels are also known as nutrition labels or nutrition facts label.
Food labels are required for most packaged foods and it is designed to provide information about the nutrient content of the food item, so you can make informed food choices.
The Nutrition Fact Labels: What's on Food Labels?
Do you disregard food labels because you don't know what they mean? Then continue reading because you are about to be a fan of nutrition labels.
People look at food labels for a variety of reasons, but the most common one is so as to monitor their diet.
The Nutrition Facts Label is overseen by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
It was first mandated under the Nutrition Labelling and Education Act of 1990, to help consumers make quick and informed food choices.
Here is a list of important things to look out for on food labels which are usually listed on the back or side of a package. With the title “Nutrition Facts”
Sodium
Protein
Cholesterol
Serving size
Total calories
Percent Daily Values
Fats-saturated and Trans
Vitamins and Other Nutrients
Total Carbohydrates-Fiber and Sugar
Important Things to Look For on Nutrition Food Labels:
Sodium:
Sodium is an essential nutrient and is needed by the body in relatively small amounts.
It helps in maintaining balance in body fluids and also keeps muscles and nerves running smoothly.
Sodium is part of salt and is highly needed for fluid balance, but too much can contribute to high blood pressure.
Almost all foods have small amounts of sodium, but many processed foods are high in sodium.
According to USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), a food is low in sodium if it contains no more than 140 milligrams per serving.
The amount of sodium in a food product should be half the number of calories per serving.
Protein:
Protein can be found in every cell in the human body.
Therefore, you need protein in your diet to help your body repair cells and also make new ones.
If the body doesn't get enough carbohydrates or fats, it can use protein for energy.
Protein also helps:
Maintain body’s pH
Drives metabolic actions
Helps in fluid balance
Keeps the immune system strong
Repair and build your body tissues.
20% to 25% of your total calories should come from protein. That is about 20-22 grams of protein per meal.
Cholesterol:
Cholesterol is important in building healthy cells and making vitamin D and some hormones.
Too much cholesterol means the food is high in fat.
It can become a problem if the amount of cholesterol in the blood is too high. This can increase the chances of having a heart attack or stroke later in life.
Therefore, try as much as possible to eat little cholesterol (no more than 300 milligram per day).
Serving Size:
Serving size is the first piece of information listed on the nutrition label and is usually written in bold or large fonts.
The number of servings per container tells you how many serving sizes are in the whole package.
The serving size is just listed in a simple measurement, such as cups, tablespoon or piece.
It is the amount of food that people may eat at one time but is not a recommendation of how much you should eat.
The nutrition facts apply to the serving size so if the serving size is one cup and you eat two cups, you are getting twice the calories, fat and other nutrients of what is listed on the label.
Calories:
A calorie is a unit of energy that measures how much energy a food provides to the body. The number of calories that's listed on the food label, indicates how many calories are in one serving.
Calories provide a measure of how much energy you get from a serving of a particular food. For example, there are 280 calories in one serving of peanut butter which is packed for four servings.
If you consume the entire package then you have consumed four servings, or 1120 calories.
Balance the number of calories you eat per day with the number of calories your body uses. If not, the body stores the excess calories as fat, which may lead to obesity in the long run.
2000 calories a day is used as a general guide for nutrition advice. Your calorie needs may be higher or lower and vary depending on your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level.
Percent Daily Values:
Percent daily value is useful to check whether a food is high or low in nutrients:
A food with 5% or less of a nutrient is low in that nutrient.
A food with 10%-19% of a nutrient is a good source of that nutrient.
A food with 20% or more of a nutrient is high in that nutrient.
This section lists the percentage of the recommended amount of a nutrient in a serving based on a recommended 2000 calorie daily diet.
Although the average person needs 2000 calories a day to maintain weight, individuals may need more or fewer depending on their lifestyle.
If you eat fewer calories per day and eat one serving, your %DV will be higher than what you see on the label.
Total Fat:
This number indicates how much fat is in a single serving of food. Although too much fat can lead to health problems, our bodies do need some fat every day.
Fats are an important source of energy. They contain twice as much energy per gram as carbohydrates or protein.
Fats provide insulation and cushioning for the skin, bones, and internal organs. Fat also carries and helps store certain vitamins (A, D, E, and K).
Types of fat:
Saturated Fat and Trans Fat
Saturated Fat and trans fat are often called “bad fats”, because they raise cholesterol level and increase your risk for developing heart diseases.
Unsaturated fats
Unsaturated fats may also be listed under total fat. Unsaturated fats are often called “good fats”, because they don't raise cholesterol levels as saturated fats do.
Most fats should come from sources of unsaturated fats.
Note: Avoid foods with more than 15 grams of fat per serving (unless you are sure it is a good fat).
Vitamins and Other Nutrients:
The FDA requires manufacturers to list some important vitamins and minerals on the nutrition facts label. These includes:
Vitamin D: This particular vitamin is needed to absorb calcium to build bones and keep them strong. Vitamin D also plays a part in heart health and fighting infection.
Calcium: This is needed for strong bones. It keeps nerves and muscles working and the heart healthy.
Iron: This helps the body make new, healthy red blood cells. lack of iron leads to anaemia.
Potassium: Like sodium, it's important for fluid balance and helps control blood pressure.
Total Carbohydrate:
Carbohydrates are an important source of energy. The food label gives total carbohydrates combined with fiber, total sugars, and added sugars.
This category includes everything from wholegrains to sugar and other refined carbs.
Dietary Fiber:
Dietary fiber itself has no calories and is a necessary part of a healthy diet. Fiber help you feel full and promotes bowel regularity.
High-fiber diets help lower your cholesterol level and also help reduce your risk of colon cancer.
Sugars:
Some foods naturally contain sugar, like fruits and milk.
Snack foods, candy, and soda, on the other hand, often have added sugars. Added sugars add calories without important nutrients.
The most important information you need to know about sugar count is that; four grams of sugar on a nutrition label equals one actual teaspoon of sugar.
If your goal is to lose weight, aim for no more than 5 teaspoons, or 20 grams of added sugars per day.
Sugar goes by countless names, many of which you may not recognize. To avoid accidentally consuming a lot of it, watch out for the following names of other added sugar in ingredient lists:
Dextran
Maltose
Lactose
Glucose
Fructose
Molasses
Galactose
Barley malt
Ethyl maltol
Malt powder
Maltodextrin
Disaccharides
Corn sweetener
Cane juice crystal
Crystalline fructose
Fruit juice concentrate.
Many more names for sugar exist, but these are the most common ones.
Foods and beverages high in added sugars tend to be higher in calories and are negatively associated with several health problems.
However, some foods like plain diary and fruit contain naturally occurring sugars that do not have these negative health effects.
Therefore, the new nutrition label that exists now shows both Total Sugar grams and Added Sugar grams. The specific types of added sweeteners will be shown in the ingredients list.
For example,
A cup of strawberry yogurt may show 20 grams of total sugars of which 10 grams are added sugars while the other 10 grams is natural sugar from lactose.
Note: Be on the lookout for terms that indicate added sugar, such as brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, and high-fructose corn syrup. Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, and acesulfame should also be consumed in moderation.
Interested in knowing more about sugars. Read more here
Other Tips to Look Out For on Nutrition Fact Label:
Check the label for allergies:
Worried about how to check for allergies? Not to worry, we’ve got you covered (wink).
Reading the ingredient list is especially important if you or someone in your family has a food allergy.
Food labels must include the ingredients that are in the product, listed in order of how much of the ingredient the food contains. So from here, you are able to check out for the ingredient you are allergic to.
Also, manufacturers are required to state on food labels whether the product contains these common food allergens: peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, fish, shellfish, soy, sesame and wheat.
Read The Ingredient List:
The ingredients list also help in working out how healthy the product is.
This information lists each ingredient in the product by its common or usual name, and in descending order by weight. That is, the ingredient that weighs the most is listed first, and the last ingredient that weighs the least is listed last.
This means that the first ingredient is what the manufacturer used the most, as they make the largest part of what you’re eating.
Take for instance, if the first few ingredients in a food product are high-fat ingredients, such as cream, butter or oil, then the food in question is likely to be a high-fat food.
The ingredients in packaged foods and beverage items are listed separately from (and often below) the Nutrition Facts Label.
Quick Shopping Tip: Colour coding
You’re standing (lost) in the middle of the supermarket looking at 2 similar products, trying to decide which to choose. You want to make the healthier choice, but you’re in a hurry.
If the nutrition labels use colour coding, you’ll often find a mixture of red, amber and green.
So when you’re choosing between similar products, try to go for more greens and ambers, and fewer reds, if you want to make a healthier choice.
Colour coded nutritional information tells you at a glance if the food has high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fats, sugars and salt:
Red means high
Amber means medium
Green means low
In general, a food or drink that has all or mostly green on the label is a healthier choice.
Amber means neither high or low, so you can eat foods with all or mostly amber on the label most of the time.
But any red on the label means the food is high in saturated fat, salt or sugars, and you should limit your intake of these foods and drinks.
Claims on Food Products That are Misleading:
Consumers are now more health-conscious, so some food manufacturers use misleading tricks to convince people to buy unhealthy processed products as being healthy.
To help avoid confusion, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) sets specific rules for what food manufacturers can call “light”, “low”, “reduced”, “free”, and other terms. This type of labelling may have little to do with how nutritious the food is.
Here are some examples and what they mean:
Healthy means the food is low in fat or saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and is a good source of important nutrients.
Organic means the food has at least 95% organic ingredients with no synthetic growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, biotechnology, synthetic ingredients or irradiation.
Light: Light products are processed to reduce either calories or fat. This may sound healthy, but some “light” products are simply watered down.
Check carefully to see if anything has been added to make up for the reduced calories and fat, such as sugar.
Multigrain: This sounds very healthy but only means that a product contains more than one type of grain. These are most likely refined grains-unless the product is marked as whole grain.
Natural: This does not necessarily mean that the product resembles anything natural. It simply indicates that at one point the manufacturer worked with a natural source like oranges or nuts.
No added sugar: Some products are naturally high in sugar. The fact that they don't have added sugar doesn't mean they’re healthy. Unhealthy sugar substitutes may also have been added.
Low-calorie: A brand’s low calorie product may be another brand’s original product. Be careful!
So many more claims like:
Low fat
Low carb
Gluten free
Fruit-flavoured
Zero trans fat
Fortified or enriched
Made with whole grains
All these claims doesn't mean the food is healthy.
Wrapping Up
The greatest way to avoid being misled by product labels is to avoid processed foods. After all, whole foods do not need an ingredients list.
However, if you decide to buy packaged foods, utilize the tips provided in this article. This way, you make healthier food choices and live a better life.
Stay fresh and healthy!