What are food labels?
Food labels give us information about the nutritional value, both qualitative and quantitative, of the product. They are also known as nutrition facts/ information label and are required on most packaged foods in many countries.
The Nutrients
A label should ideally give us information about 15 elements:
- Calories
- Calories from fat
- Fat
- Saturated fat
- Trans Fat
- Cholesterol
- Carbohydrates
- Dietary Fibre
- Sugars
- Protein
- Sodium
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Calcium
- Iron
Reading a Nutrition Label
Step 1 – Look up the ingredients
The list of ingredients, normally come at the bottom of the food label. The ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. For instance if the list looks like this – flour, sugar, butter, eggs, emulsifying agents, it means that it contains the maximum amount of flour, followed by sugar which is followed by butter. It provides you with a checklist of what you need to avoid in case of dietary restrictions, food allergies and reactions.
Step 2- Start with serving size
The amounts are given per item or portion or how much there is per 100 grams. Sometimes it may give you both. They are typically found at the top of the label. Serving sizes is the amount of food that is typically eaten in one serving indicated by cup or number. Serving sizes differ on each food label and may not equal the serving size you normally eat. If you double a serving size, you must also double all the other values on the nutrition label.
Step 3- Count “Calories”
The energy food gives us is measured in kilojoules(kJ) or kilocalories(kcal). Pick up foods which give you lower calorie counts in large servings.
Step 4- Understand Fat
There are different kinds of fat. Make sure most of it is mono-unsaturated and or polyunsaturated. If a food has 10g of total fat, 7-8 g should be unsaturated.The trans- fat and saturated fat is the, most unhealthy, so look at the amount in particular. Look out for terms such as hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, dalda, shortenings to spot presence of trans- fat. Moreover, some product containing less than 5 g of fat show amounts rounded to the nearest 0.5 g. Amounts less than 0.5 g are rounded to 0 g. For example, if a product contains 0.45 g of trans- fat per serving, and the package contains 12 servings, the label would show 0 g of trans fat, even though the product actually contains a total of 5.4 g of trans fat. Also, find the calorie contribution the fat content is making.
Step 5- Learn about %RDA or Daily Value
Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Daily Value (DV) is the recommended amount you should eat of something (different nutrients) each day to maintain health. The Percent Daily Value tells how much of a certain nutrient one serving of food contains, to how much of that nutrient you should consume daily. The RDA for Calcium is 400mg/day. If the food under consideration contains 5% or less of the RDA for Calcium, it means the nutrient content is low, and it is high if it contains 20% or more of the RDA. Choose foods which give 20 – 30% RDA or DV per serving to strengthen your bones.
Step 6- Limit These Nutrients:
This includes total fat (saturated and trans fats), cholesterol and sodium. Whenever you buy processed food, ensure that these three are as low as possible. Limit cholesterol intake to 200mg/day. Beware of sodium, it’s a hidden ingredient in sauces, ketchup, snacks like bhujia etc. Look out for MSG or mono-sodium glutamate as it contains a high amount of sodium. MSG can be disguised as glutamate, textured protein, yeast or malt extract, so be weary of such ingredients while reading food labels.
Step 7- Get more of these. All types of dietary fiber, vitamins, calcium and iron are necessary for good health. Choose foods that have a high amount of these nutrients for a healthy diet. For fibre, opt for foods which provide 3 to 5 gram per serving.Your daily goal should be at least 25grams.
Step 8-Search the “Sugar” out.
Sometimes sugar is counted as a part of the total carbohydrates. So browse the ingredients list to catch it. But remember, sugar can have lots of different names though, so look out for sucrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, honey, invert sugar and corn syrup as well. Some labels say “of which sugars” is the bit you count as your sugar intake. Some carbohydrates become sugar when digested in body, so we may be actually consuming more sugar than what is on label.
It can be hard to figure out if a food is healthy and if the nutrition claims sounds too good to be true, then we need to scrutinize the fine print further. Nutrient content claim is a claim that describes the level of a nutrient contained in a food. Here are the claims and what they mean:
Fat Free: The food can contains less than 0.5 g fat per 100g of serving
Lite: The food which contain one-third fewer calories or half the fat of the “regular” version
Low in saturated Fat: The food contains less 1.5 g saturated fat per 100g of serving and less than 10% of calories for that food come from saturated fat.
Cholesterol Free: The food contains less 0.005g of cholesterol per 100g of serving and less that 1.5 g saturated fat and less than 10% of calories for that food come from saturated fat.
Sugar Free: The food can contain less than 0.5 g of sugar per 100 g
Low in Sodium: The food can contain less than 0.12 g sodium per 100g of the food.
Sodium Free: The food can contain less than 0.005g or sodium per 100g of the food.
Low Calorie: The food can contain less than 40 kcal per 100g of serving.
Calorie free: The food can contain less than 4 kcal/100g of serving.
Low in Fat: The food can contain less than 3 g fat per 100g of servings.
Source of Protein: If the food contains not less than 10% of the Daily Value per serving.
High Protein: If the food contains more than 19% of the Daily Value of protein per serving.
Source of Vitamins and Minerals: If the food contains 15 % of the Daily Value per serving
High in Vitamins and Minerals: If the food contains more than 19% of the Daily Value per serving
High Fibre: A food is considered high in fiber if it contains 5 grams of fiber or more per serving.
So next time, when you are at the supermarket, exercise your information and buy healthy, live healthy!!