Your Guide to Nutrition Labels
With the increasing number of “healthy” food products piling up in the market, reading, understanding and interpreting what a food label actually means can be a little tricky.
“Nutrition labels can help us understand better as to what exactly the food packet contains and identify and include more healthy and nutrient dense foods in our diet.”
Most of us lack the understanding of reading food labels and even if we do, are not sure what to look for. This article is your quick and comprehensive guide to differentiate between mislabeled and true healthy foods!
(For a quick list of key takeaway, check towards the end of the article)
- Look for the Nutrition Label
The nutritional label or information or facts table is usually on the back on the food product and contains detailed values of the calories, carbohydrates, proteins, fats and other vitamins and minerals coming from the product.
2. Check for the serving size
The serving size is the first thing you see on the top of the nutrition panel. If a packet of 100g biscuits containing 10 biscuits says that the serving size is 30g, it means that each serving equals 3 biscuits. Many manufacturers reduce the serving size to trick the consumer into thinking that the food contains less sugar, fat or calories. A 250g bar of chocolate will show 25g of added sugar for 100g as per the label and not 62g for 250g of chocolate.
3. Look out for bad fat & added sugar
Total fat1 values include saturated, unsaturated (MUFA and PUFA) and trans fats. Choose products with lower saturated and trans fats. Similarly, total sugars come from both natural and added sugar. One should choose a product with zero added sugar. Look for foods which contain important nutrients like dietary fibre, calcium, zinc, magnesium, iron, potassium, vitamins A,D,E and K and B-group vitamins.
4. Alternate names for added sugar
Check the ingredient list for: cane juice crystals or sugar, buttered sugar, castor sugar, beet sugar, invert sugar, golden sugar or syrup, date sugar, organic raw sugar, evaporated cane juice, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), maple or oat or rice bran or rice syrup, honey, agave nectar, malt syrup, molasses, corn sweetener, crystalline fructose, maltodextrin, maltose, dextran, fructose, fruit juice concentrate or glucose.
5. The earlier the ingredient, the better
Ingredients in the top three of the list are present in the highest quantities. Stay away from food products whose initial ingredient list consists of added sugars or salt, saturated or trans fat.
6. Beware of misleading claims
Products claiming to be ‘light’, ‘ low calorie’ or ‘low fat’ are simply watered down and loaded with added sugar. Artificial sweeteners or unhealthy fats are added to products claiming to be ‘no added sugar’ or ‘sugar-free’ or ‘low-carb’ or ‘gluten-free’ and effects of these sugar substitutes on our health in the long run is still unknown. If a product claims to be multigrain, the product may contain negligible amount of grains if they aren’t there in the first three ingredients of the list. Products with zero trans fats means that they have less than 0.5g of trans fat per serving and are not completely trans fat free.
7. Artificial colours and flavours
Flavours and colours are added to enhance the visual appeal & palatability of the product. An orange cream biscuit or a strawberry fruit yoghurt DOES NOT contain real orange or strawberries but these are only added as flavours.
8. Understanding % RDA2 (Recommended Dietary Allowance)
These are mentioned next to the nutrient values on the nutrition panel table. The % RDA value tells us the percentage of the nutrient that is present in a single serving as compared to the daily required amount. If a milk product says to have 20% added vitamin D, it means that the product has 20% of the amount of vitamin D required per day.
Final Verdict: Don’t let the claims in front of you fool or mislead you because effectiveness of food labels and consumer making better choices come with better education and understanding about what you are looking for!
Key takeaways:
- The nutrition label along with the serving size is present at the back of any food product. It gives details about the energy, carbs, proteins, fats and vitamins and minerals that each serving of the product provides.
- Look out for products that do not contain any added sugars or their alternatives (check the article for the list) and bad fats like saturated or trans fats.
- Stay away from misleading claims like ‘light’, ‘ low calorie’, ‘low fat’, ‘no added sugar’, ‘sugar-free’, ‘low-carb’,‘gluten-free’ as artificial sweeteners and unhealthy fats are added for making such products.
- Ingredients in the top three of the ingredients list are present in highest quantities.
- Artificial fruit flavours are added to enhance the visual appeal palatability of the product and does not contain real fruit.
- The % RDA value (next to the nutrient value) tells us the percentage of the nutrient that is present in a single serving as compared to the daily required amount.
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