Know Thy Food Label
Know Thy Food Label
by C. R. Ellsworth
Whether you're concerned about cancer,
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or simply losing
weight, you want to eat a healthy diet and focus
on foods that are high in vitamins, minerals, and
phytonutrients, and balanced in fats, carbs,
proteins.
There is only one way to incorporate healthy foods
into our diet and that is to make the decision to
do it! Practical information about the nutrition
and safety of the foods we consume is absolutely
vital in making this decision.
One way to learn more about what we eat, is to
snoop around the supermarket. Check-out package
labels to see what manufactures are adding (or
removing) from the foods we eat. Read the
information on the package and start making
comparisons to determine which foods are the best
for YOU. Know about nutritional labeling and the
sometimes sneaky ways that manufacturers have of
hiding what is in the food. Know and understand
ingredient declarations, how they are used, and
what a few of the "technical" terms mean. Are the
unfamiliar ingredients good or bad for your
health?
Since 1994 food manufacturers have been required
by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to
include food labels (or Nutrition Facts labels) on
product packaging so that consumers have accurate
nutritional information about the food they
purchase. But food labels are more than just a
federal requirement – once you understand the
information they provide, you can use food labels
as a guide to planning healthier meals and
snacks.
Food labels are required on almost all foods,
except those that don't provide many nutrients
such as coffee, alcohol and spices. Although some
restaurants provide information about the food
they serve, they aren't required to have labels.
The FDA recommends that sellers provide
nutritional information on produce, meat, poultry
and seafood, but it's strictly voluntary.
What Is a Serving?
At the top of a food label under Nutrition Facts,
you'll see the serving size and the number of
servings in the package. The rest of the nutrition
information in the label is based on one serving.
Calories, Calories From Fat and Percent Daily
Values
This part of a food label provides the calories
per serving and the calories that come from fat.
If you need to know the total number of calories
you eat every day or the number of calories that
come from fat, this section provides that
information. Remember that this part of the label
doesn't tell you whether you are eating saturated
or unsaturated fat.
On the right side of a food label, you'll see a
column that lists percentages. These percentages
refer to the percent daily values (%DV). Percent
daily values tell you how much of something,
whether it's fat, sugar or vitamin A, one serving
will give you compared to how much you need for
the entire day. It will help you gauge the
percentage of a nutrient requirement met by one
serving of the product. One way to use this
section of the label is when you comparison shop.
For example, if you're concerned with sodium, you
can look at two foods and choose the food with the
lower % DV. Are you trying to eat a low-fat diet?
Look for foods that have a lower percent daily
value of fat.
The %DV is based on how much or how little of the
key nutrients you should eat whether you eat 2,000
or 2,500 calories a day. So if you eat a
2,000-calorie diet, you should eat less than 65
grams of fat in all the foods you eat for the day.
If you're eating 12 grams of fat in your one
serving of macaroni and cheese (remember that's
one cup), you can calculate how much fat you have
left for the day. You can use the bottom part of
the food label in white to compare what you are
eating to the % DV you're allowed for that
nutrient, whether it's fat, sodium or fiber. If
you need more or less than 2,000 or 2,500
calories, you'll need to adjust this accordingly.
Nutrients
Fat, Sugar, Sodium and Carbohydrate
The sections on a food label shows the name of a
nutrient and the amount of that nutrient provided
by one serving of food. You may need to know this
information, especially if you have high blood
pressure, diabetes or are eating a diet that
restricts certain nutrients such as sodium or
carbohydrates.
Food labels also include information about how
much sugar and protein is in the food. If you are
following a low-sugar diet or you're monitoring
your protein intake, it's easy to spot how much of
those nutrients are contained in one serving.
Vitamins, Minerals and Other Information
The light purple part of the label lists
nutrients, vitamins and minerals in the food and
their percent daily values. Try to average 100% DV
every day for vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and
fiber. Do the opposite with fat, saturated fat,
sodium and cholesterol. Try to eat less than 100%
DV of these.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Reading a Food
Label
Until you become accustomed to reading food
labels, it's easy to become confused. Avoid these
common mistakes when reading labels:
-A label may say that the food is reduced fat or
reduced sodium. That means that the amount of fat
or sodium has been reduced by 25% from the
original product. It doesn't mean, however, that
the food is low in fat or sodium. For example, if
a can of soup originally had 1,000 milligrams of
sodium, the reduced sodium product would still be
a high-sodium food.
-Don't confuse the % DV for fat with the
percentage of calories from fat. If the % DV is
15% that doesn't mean that 15% of the calories
comes from fat. Rather, it means that you're using
up 15% of all the fat you need for a day with one
serving (based on a meal plan of 2,000 calories
per day).
-Don't make the mistake of assuming that the
amount of sugar on a label means that the sugar
has been added. For example, milk naturally has
sugar, which is called lactose. But that doesn't
mean you should stop drinking milk because milk is
full of other important nutrients including
calcium.
Reading Label Lingo
In addition to requiring that packaged foods
contain a Nutrition Facts label, the FDA also
regulates the use of phrases and terms used on the
product packaging. Here's a list of common phrases
you may see on your food packaging and what they
actually mean.
No fat or fat free - Contains less than 1/2 gram
of fat per serving Lower or reduced fat: Contains
at least 25 percent less per serving than the
reference food. (An example might be reduced fat
cream cheese, which would have at least 25 percent
less fat than original cream cheese.)
Low fat - Contains less than 3 grams of fat per
serving.
Lite - Contains 1/3 the calories or 1/2 the fat
per serving of the original version or a similar
product.
No calories or calorie free - Contains less than 5
calories per serving.
Low calories - Contains 1/3 the calories of the
original version or a similar product.
Sugar free - Contains less than 1/2 gram of sugar
per serving.
Reduced sugar - at least 25% less sugar per
serving than the reference food.
No preservatives - Contains no preservatives
(chemical or natural).
No preservatives added - Contains no added
chemicals to preserve the product. Some of these
products may contain natural preservatives.
Low sodium - Contains less than 140 mgs of sodium
per serving.
No salt or salt free - Contains less than 5 mgs of
sodium per serving.
High fiber - 5 g or more per serving (Foods making
high-fiber claims must meet the definition for low
fat, or the level of total fat must appear next to
the high-fiber claim).
Good source of fiber - 2.5 g to 4.9 g. per
serving.
More or added fiber - Contains at least 2.5 g more
per serving than the reference food.
With a little practice, you will be able to put
your new found knowledge about food labeling to
work. Reassess your diet and decide what needs to
be changed. Start by eliminating the foods that
don't measure-up to your nutritional wants and
needs, and replacing them with more nutritional
substitutes.
And while you're at it, visit the FDA website and
learn about the new labeling requirements,
including those for "trans" fat. Like saturated
fats, trans fats can raise levels of low-density
lipoproteins (LDL) and increase your risk of heart
disease. The "Nutrition Facts" panel on food
packaging must provide this information beginning
January 1, 2006, but most manufacturers will start
providing it sooner.
