DOWNLOAD PDF HOW TO READ FOOD LABELS

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1 Chapter 1 : How To Read Food Labels Best Food Facts People look at food labels for different reasons. But whatever the reason, many consumers would like to know how to use this information more effectively and easily. The following label-building. These food labels are especially helpful if you use carbohydrate counting to plan your meals. Serving Size Start by looking at the serving size. All of the information on the label is based on the serving size listed. Using Amount Per Serving The information on the left side of the label provides total amounts per serving of the different nutrients. These are shown in grams which are abbreviated as g; or in milligrams, shown as mg. Use total amounts to compare labels of similar foods. So choose foods with less calories, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium. Also, try to select foods with more fiber, which is listed lower on the label under total carbohdyrate. Calories If you are trying to lose or maintain your weight, the number of calories you eat is important. To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than your body burns. Use labels to compare similar products to determine which contains fewer calories. For an even better estimate of the calories you need, talk with a registered dietitian. Total Carbohydrate Total carbohydrate on the label includes all types of carbohydrate - sugar, complex carbohydrate and fiber. If you look only at the sugar number, you may end up overeating foods such as grains that have no natural or added sugar, but do contain a lot of carbohydrate. You might also exclude nutritious foods such as fruit and low-fat dairy thinking they are too high in sugar. These foods have natural sugars, but they are packed with important nutrients and are considered healthy choices. Note that grams of sugar on the label does not distinguish between natural and added sugars. Fiber Fiber is part of plant foods that is not digested â or for some types, only partially digested. Dried beans such as kidney or pinto beans, fruits, vegetables and grains are all good sources of fiber. The recommendation for fiber is to eat about 25 grams per day for women and 38 grams per day for men. But many Americans are only getting about half the fiber that they need per day. In general, look for foods with more fiber per serving! Sugar Alcohols Sugar alcohols also known as polyols include sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol, and have fewer calories than sugars and starches. If a food contains these, it would be listed on the label as well. Use of sugar alcohols in a product does not necessarily mean the product is low in carbohydrate or calories. And, just because a package says "sugar-free" on the outside, that does not mean that it is calorie or carbohydrate-free. Always remember to check the label for the grams of carbohydrate and calories. It includes fats that are good for you such as mono and polyunsaturated fats, and fats that are not so good, such as saturated and trans fats. Mono and polyunsaturated fats can help to lower your blood cholesterol and protect your heart. Saturated and trans fat can raise your blood cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. The cholesterol in food may also increase your blood cholesterol. When it comes to fat, focus on choosing foods with the least saturated fat and no trans fat per serving. Too much of these "unhealthy fats" can increase your risk for heart disease and stroke. Both saturated and trans fat are listed out on the label under total fat. Cholesterol is also listed out. Per gram, it has more than twice the calories of carbohydrate or protein. Although some types of fats, such as mono and polyunsaturated fats are considered healthy fats, it is still important to pay attention to the overall number of calories that you consume to maintain a healthy weight. Sodium Sodium does not affect blood glucose levels. However, many people eat much more sodium than they need. Table salt is very high in sodium. You might hear people use "sodium" in lieu of "table salt," or vice versa. With many foods, you can taste how salty they are, such as pickles or bacon. But there is also hidden salt in many foods, like cheeses, salad dressings, lunch meat, canned soups and other packaged foods. Reading labels can help you find these hidden sources and compare the sodium in different foods. Adults should aim for mg or less per day. If you have high blood pressure, it may be helpful to eat less. Read more on our Cutting Back on Sodium page! List of Ingredients Ingredient lists can also be a helpful tool. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, meaning the first ingredient makes up the largest proportion of the food. The ingredient list is also a good place to look for heart-healthy ingredients such as olive, canola or peanut oils; or whole grains, like whole wheat flour and oats. To find bread high in whole grains, you would want a product that lists whole wheat flour as the first ingredient. The Percent Daily Values for each nutrient are found in the right column on the Page 1

2 label. These tell you what percent of each nutrient the food provides if you were on a calorie per day diet. However, you should focus on the total amounts per serving for ease in comparing labels and counting carbohydrates. Other similar claims that you may have seen are "impact carbohydrate" or "digestible carbohydrate. However, none of the terms above have a legal definition from the FDA and they are not used by the American Diabetes Association. To get these numbers, manufacturers usually subtract the grams of fiber and sugar alcohols from the total carbohydrate. This makes their food appear lower in carbohydrate than it really is. In most cases, this calculation is not accurate and will underestimate how a food impacts blood glucose. Always look at the "Total Carbohydrate" on the Nutrition Facts label first. Checking your blood glucose can help you identify how a particular food affects you. Page 2

3 Chapter 2 : How to understand food labels Eat For Health Learning how to understand and use the Nutrition Facts label can help you make healthier eating choices and identify nutrient-dense foods for a healthy diet. Here are some tips from the American Heart Association for making the most of the information on food labels. Want to read and instantly understand food labels like a pro? If yes, read on. Our experts tell you how to read food labels and understand them correctly. Some governments are very specific about the content of the food labels but by and large most food labels mention: Serving size Nutrition information Total weight of the package Although not legally binding, some discerning food packers and manufacturers go to the extent of using different background colors to segregate the information. For the purpose of reading the food labels, you may ignore the colors and follow these steps of how to read food labels. Start at the top â Serving size and calories per serving Serving size is quantum of the product that can be served per adult per meal. In the case of the sample label here, the serving size is one cup. It also mentions that the entire package contains two servings i. Immediately below the serving size, the label mentions the number of calories per serving i. The calorie count does not include anything you might add to the content of the package. For example, if this were a soup tin and you add some chopped veggies, peas etc. Also remember that if you were to consume the entire contents all by yourself in one go, then the total calories would be calories per serving multiplied by the total number of servings in the package. To this you would have to add the calorie value of any food you might have added to it. The next piece of information on the food label pertains to the nutrition in each serving. This bit can be quite confusing because there is no standardization as to how this information is displayed. Some food labels might mention the nutrition in grams, others might mention it in milligrams while yet others might choose to indicate nutrition as a percentage of daily requirement. Again, we need to remember that this information does not include anything you might add to the dish. You also have to take into account whether the label was printed in the U. Standards which would be slightly different from those followed in the U. Overall however, there are only minor differences between daily requirement figures put out by USDA and those that are put out by other countries. The most important thing to consider when reading a food label is the serving size, calories per serving, and the total number of servings in the package. Every often food packages also come printed with a helpful recipe. The recipe might require you add various other ingredients to the contents of the package. In all such cases, remember that the calories and nutritional information mentioned on the food label pertains to the contents of the package alone and not the recipe. Page 3

4 Chapter 3 : How to read food labels healthdirect Continued. Label reading is easy when a package states there are one or two servings. It's the fractions that will send you to the calculator. For example, the label on a 6-ounce can of StarKist. How to understand food labels How to understand food labels Food labels can be very confusing and tricky to understand. However, a few quick tips can make shopping for healthy food a whole lot easier and quicker and can help you lose weight. Knowing what nutrition information to look for, can help you make the best choice for your health and avoid unnecessary saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and kilojoules. Labels on most packaged food must meet strict requirements that include information for people with food allergies, food additive listings and food storage instructions. More information about food labelling requirements can be found at Food Labels - What do they mean? While food labels can carry many different types of information, the main things to look at when choosing healthy food are the Nutrition Information Panel. Nutrition Information Panel Click on the image for a larger version. The Nutrition Information Panel on a food label offers the simplest and easiest way to choose foods with less saturated fat, salt sodium, added sugars and kilojoules, and more fibre. This is particularly important if you are trying to lose weight. Then use the Nutrition Information Panel to compare similar packaged foods and to decide which product provides less saturated fat, salt sodium, added sugars and kilojoules per gm and more fibre per serve. However, it is still possible to include small serves of discretionary foods, eaten occasionally and savoured by eating slowly and enjoying the food with all our senses. The trick is to choose only the foods or drinks that we really enjoy. Some people have a sweet tooth or love chocolate, others prefer savoury and love a great cheese. Other people really enjoy a wine sipped slowly. All food is not equally special for us. We all have our favourites. Beware of foods that look like a single serve, but actually contain several servings in one packet. Once we know the kilojoules in a serve, we can weigh up whether our enjoyment warrants the extra kilojoules. Health Star Ratings will make it much easier for shoppers to make informed choices about healthier food options. The HSR on the front of food packages provides an at-a-glance overall rating of the healthiness of the food product reflected as a star rating, as well as specific nutrient and energy information. The more stars, the healthier the choice. Generally, the HSR will provide the most useful source of comparison between similar food products e. Where the nutrient icons are also displayed, they will provide information about the energy content of a product, as well as the levels of saturated fat, sodium salt and sugars, to help you make the best choice to suit your personal circumstances. In some cases, a positive nutrient icon e. The HSR system was developed by Australian, state and territory governments, industry, public health and consumer groups. Ingredients List All ingredients in a food product must be listed on the label in order Food Labels - What do they mean? You can use this to spot foods that might be high in saturated fat, added salt or added sugars because these ingredients are listed in the top three. Also look out for other words on the ingredients list that flag ingredients high in saturated fat, added salt or added sugars. Using the Ingredients List to help you lose weight To lose weight we need to eat and drink fewer kilojoules than our bodies use. The kilojoules can come from one source or a combination of fat, sugars, protein, carbohydrate or alcohol. However, if fat or sugars are high on the list of ingredients, it is a good reason to check how high the kilojoules are in the amount you would eat. These claims can only be used if the food meets certain criteria. While nutrition content claims can generally guide you to healthier choices, it is important to check the claim by looking at the Nutrition Information Panel. Health claims Different to nutrition content claims, health claims link a food, or a nutrient or substance in a food, to a health effect. There are two types of health claims: General level health claims refer to a nutrient or substance in a food and its effect on a health function. High level health claims refer to a nutrient or substance in a food and its relationship to a serious disease or to a biomarker of a serious disease. Diets high in calcium may reduce the risk of osteoporosis in people 65 years and over. An example of a biomarker health claim is: Phytosterols may reduce blood cholesterol. A new standard to regulate nutrition content and health claims was gazetted in January Standard 1. There is a three year transition period which means that by 18 January, foods carrying nutrition content claims, health claims and endorsements will need to comply with the new Standard. Page 4

5 Click here for an overview of Standard 1. Health claims are only permitted on foods that meet certain nutrition criterion, thereby preventing health claims on food higher in saturated fat, sugar or salt. Percentage Daily Intake Some labels also list nutrients in a serve of the product as a percentage of daily nutrient intake. Like nutrition claims, this information can give you a rough guide, but your individual needs, particularly kilojoules, could be quite different. The tables below offer a simpler way to work out how a food fits with your nutrient and energy requirements for a day. It can also be used to plan meals and snacks to lose weight if extra serves and discretionary foods are avoided. Minimum recommended average daily number of serves from each of the five food groups. Page 5

6 Chapter 4 : How to Use the Nutrition Fact Label, Eat Right, NHLBI, NIH Food labels tell you the nutrition facts about the foods you buy. Use the food labels to help you choose healthier foods. Always check the serving size first. All the information on the label is based on the serving size. Many packages contain more than 1 serving. For example, the serving size for. How to read food labels URL of this page: Reading the labels can help you make healthy choices when you shop. About Food Labels Food labels tell you the nutrition facts about the foods you buy. Use the food labels to help you choose healthier foods. What to Look For Always check the serving size first. All the information on the label is based on the serving size. Many packages contain more than 1 serving. If you eat 2 cups 0. That is 2 times the amount of the calories, fats, and other items listed on the label. Calorie information tells you the number of calories in 1 serving. Adjust the number of calories if you eat smaller or larger portions. This number helps determine how foods affect your weight. The total carbs carbohydrates are listed in bold letters to stand out and are measured in grams g. Sugar, starch, and dietary fiber make up the total carbs on the label. Sugar is listed separately. All of these carbs raise your blood sugar. If you have diabetes and count carbs, use the total carb number. Dietary fiber is listed just below total carbs. Buy foods with at least 3 to 4 grams of fiber per serving. Whole-grain breads, fruits and vegetables, and beans and legumes are high in fiber. Check the total fat in 1 serving. Pay special attention to the amount of saturated fat in 1 serving. Choose foods that are low in saturated fat. Skim milk has only a trace of saturated fat. Whole milk has 5 grams of this fat per serving. Fish is much lower in saturated fat than beef. Three ounces 84 grams of fish has less than 1 gram of this fat. Three ounces 84 grams of hamburger has more than 5 grams. If a food has less than 0. Remember this if you eat more than 1 serving. You should also pay attention to trans fats on any food label. These fats raise "bad" cholesterol and lower your "good" cholesterol. These fats are mostly found in snack foods and desserts. Many fast food restaurants use trans fats for frying. If a food has these fats, the amount will be listed on the label under total fat. They are measured in grams. Look for foods that have no trans fats or are low in them 1 gram or less. Sodium is the main ingredient of salt. This number is important for people who are trying to get less salt in their diet. If a label says that a food has mg of sodium, this means it has about mg of salt. You should eat no more than 2, mg of sodium per day. Ask your health care provider if you should have even less. The percentage for each item on the label is based on eating 2, calories a day. Your goals will be different if you eat more or fewer calories a day. A dietitian or your provider can help you set your own nutrition goals. Alternative Names Nutrition - reading food labels; Diabetes - reading food labels; Hypertension - reading food labels; Fats - reading food labels; Cholesterol - reading food labels; Weight loss - reading food labels; Obesity - reading food labels Images Food label guide for whole wheat bread References Department of Health and Human Services and U. Accessed September 29, J Am Coll Cardiol. Salt sensitivity of blood pressure: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Nutrition and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. Page 6

7 Chapter 5 : Taking a Closer Look At Labels: American Diabetes Association Read the Food Label. Food labels tell you the nutritional content of a food item. You can compare two different items by using the Nutrition Facts label to choose the healthier option. Consumers are more health-conscious than ever, so food manufacturers use misleading tricks to convince people to buy their products. They often do this even when the food is highly processed and unhealthy. This article briefly explains how to read food labels, and how to sort out the junk from the truly healthy foods. Front labels try to lure you into purchasing products by making health claims. Manufacturers want to make you believe that their product is healthier than other, similar options. This has actually been studied. Manufacturers are often dishonest in the way they use these labels. They tend to use health claims that are misleading, and in some cases downright false. Examples include many high-sugar breakfast cereals, like "whole grain" Cocoa Puffs. Despite the label, these products are not healthy. This makes it hard for consumers to choose healthy options without a thorough inspection of the ingredients list. Front labels are often used to lure people into buying products. However, most of these labels are highly misleading or downright false. Product ingredients are listed by quantity, from highest to lowest amount. That means that the first listed ingredient is what the manufacturer used the most of. If the first ingredients include refined grains, some sort of sugar or hydrogenated oils, you can be pretty sure that the product is unhealthy. Instead, try to choose items that have whole foods listed as the first three ingredients. Another good rule of thumb is if the ingredients list is longer than 2â 3 lines, you can assume that the product is highly processed. Ingredients are listed by quantity, from highest to lowest. Try looking for products that list whole foods as the first three ingredients, and be skeptical of foods with long lists of ingredients. The backs of nutrition labels state how many calories and nutrients are in a single serving of the product. However, these serving sizes are often much smaller portions than people generally eat in one sitting. For example, one serving may be half a can of soda, a quarter of a cookie, half a chocolate bar or a single biscuit. In this way, manufacturers try to deceive consumers into thinking that the food has fewer calories and less sugar than it actually does. Many people are completely unaware of this serving size scheme. They often assume that the entire container is a single serving, while it may actually consist of two, three or more servings. Serving sizes listed on packaging may be misleading and unrealistic. Manufacturers often list a much smaller amount than most people eat as a single serving. Health claims on packaged food are designed to catch your attention and convince you that the product is healthy. Here are some of the most common ones, and what they actually mean: Light products are processed to reduce either calories or fat, and some products are simply watered down. Check carefully to see if anything has been added instead, like sugar. This sounds very healthy, but basically just means that there is more than one type of grain in the product. These are most likely refined grains, unless the product is marked as whole grain. This does not necessarily mean that the product resembles anything natural. It simply means that at some point the manufacturer had a natural source for example, apples or rice to work with. This label says very little about whether the product is healthy or not. For example, organic sugar is still sugar. Only certified organically grown products can be guaranteed to be organic. Some products are naturally high in sugar. Unhealthy sugar substitutes may also have been added. This label almost always means that the fat has been reduced at the cost of adding more sugar. Be very careful and read the ingredients listed on the back. Recently, low-carb diets have been linked with improved health. However, processed foods that are labeled low-carb are usually just processed junk foods, similar to processed low-fat junk foods. Made with whole grain: There is probably very little whole grain in the product. Check the ingredients list and see where the whole grain is placed. If it is not in the first 3 ingredients, then the amount is negligible. This basically means that some nutrients have been added to the product. For example, vitamin D is often added to milk. Gluten-free does not equal healthy. Many foods are gluten-free, but can be highly processed and loaded with unhealthy fats and sugar. Many processed foods have a name that refers to a natural flavor, such as strawberry yogurt. However, there may not be any fruit in the product, only chemicals designed to taste like fruit. All of this being said, there are many truly healthy foods out there that actually are organic, whole grain, natural, etc. Page 7

8 However, just having these labels does not guarantee that the product is healthy. There are many words that people link with improved health. These are often used to mislead consumers into thinking that unhealthy processed food is actually good for you. Different Names for Sugar Sugar goes by countless names, many of which you may not recognize. Food manufacturers use this to their advantage. They purposely add many different kinds of sugar to their products so they can hide the actual amount. By doing this, they can list a "healthier" ingredient at the top, and mention sugar further down. To avoid accidentally consuming a lot of sugar, it may be wise to look out for the following names of sugar in ingredient lists: There are many more names for sugar, but these are the most common. If you see any of these in the top spots on the ingredients lists, or several kinds throughout the list, then you can be sure that the product is high in added sugar. Sugar goes by many names in ingredient lists, many of which you may not recognize. These include cane sugar, invert sugar, corn sweetener, dextran, molasses, malt syrup, maltose and evaporated cane juice. Always Choose Whole Foods Whenever Possible Obviously, the best way to avoid being misled by these labels is to avoid processed foods altogether. However, if you decide to buy packaged foods, it is necessary to sort out the junk from the higher quality products. Page 8

9 Chapter 6 : Figuring Out Food Labels Reading nutrition labels can help you make wise food choices; knowing how to read the "Nutrition Facts" on a food label and not relying on phrases like "healthy" or "low-fat" is a key step. Being in better control of your eating habits helps you to feel in better control of other aspects of your life. Or maybe you have a toy that came with a diagram that identified each small piece. Nutrition labels are sort of like that. NEW-tree-ents are in the food. Your body needs the right combination of nutrients, such as vitamins, to work properly and grow. Most nutrients are measured in grams, also written as g. Some nutrients are measured in milligrams, or mg. Milligrams are very tiny â there are 1, milligrams in 1 gram. Other information on the label is given in percentages. Food contains fat, protein, carbohydrates, and fiber. Food also contains vitamins, such as A and C, and minerals, such as calcium and iron. Nutrition specialists know how much of each one kids and adults should get every day to have a healthy diet. The percent daily value on a food label tells you how this food can help someone meet these daily goals. On food labels, they base the percentages on a 2,calorie adult diet. Similarly, the person would see that the crackers provide nothing toward the daily goals for vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, or iron. Likewise, kids may need more or less of certain food components and nutrients, such as calcium and iron. But kids can still get important information from food labels. They can get a general idea about what the food contains, how much is in a serving, and how many calories are in a serving. Kids also can use labels to compare two foods. Which one has more fiber? Which one has more fat? Which one has more calories per serving? The ingredient list is another important part of the label. Ingredients are listed in order so you get an idea of how much of each ingredient is in the food. When something is listed first, second, or third, you know that this food probably contains a lot of it. The food will contain smaller amounts of the ingredients mentioned at the end of the list. With that in mind, check ingredient lists to see where sugar appears. Limit foods that mention sugar in the first few ingredients. Sugar has different names, so it might also be called high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sucrose, or glucose. The nutrition label tells you how many nutrients are in that amount of food. If you ate 10 pretzels, that would be two servings. Servings per Container or Package The label also tells you how many servings are contained in that package of food. If there are 15 servings in a box of cookies and each serving is two cookies, you have enough for all 30 kids in your class to have one cookie each. Math comes in handy with food labels! Calories and Calories From Fat The number of calories in a single serving of the food is listed on the left of the label. This number tells you the amount of energy in the food. The calories in a food can come from fat, protein, or carbohydrate. People pay attention to calories because if you eat more calories than your body uses, you will gain weight. Another important part of the label is the number of calories that come from fat. Total Fat The total fat is the number of fat grams contained in one serving of the food. The different kinds of fat, such as saturated, unsaturated, and trans fat, will be listed separately on the label. Cholesterol and Sodium These numbers tell you how much cholesterol and sodium salt are in a single serving of the food. They are included on the label because some people should limit the amount of cholesterol and salt in their diets. Cholesterol and sodium are usually measured in milligrams. Total Carbohydrate This number tells you how many carbohydrate grams are in one serving of food. Under this heading, the number of grams of sugar and grams of dietary fiber in each serving are listed. Protein This number tells you how much protein you get from a single serving of the food. Your body needs protein to build and repair essential parts of the body, such as muscles, blood, and organs. Protein is often measured in grams. Vitamin A and Vitamin C These list the amounts of vitamin A and vitamin C, two important vitamins, in a serving of the food. Each amount is given as a percent daily value. Other vitamins may be listed on some labels. Calcium and Iron These list the percentages of calcium and iron, two important minerals, that are in a serving of the food. Again, each amount is given as a percent daily value and other minerals may be listed on the label. Calories per Gram These numbers show how many calories are in one gram of fat, carbohydrate, and protein. This information is the same for every food and is printed on the food label for reference. Page 9

10 Chapter 7 : How to Read Nutrition Facts on Food Labels: 12 Steps Reading labels is a tricky business. Consumers are more health-conscious than ever, so food manufacturers use misleading tricks to convince people to buy their products.. They often do this even. Understanding nutrition claims Some labels tell you what percentage of the recommended daily intake is provided by one serve of the product. This helps you to work out how the food fits into a balanced diet. Read more about recommended daily intakes for adults and recommended daily intakes for children here. These mean the product meets strict criteria set by the government. Check the Nutrition Information Panel to see how the product compares. How to read the Nutrition Information Panel The Nutrition Information Panel tells you the size of a standard serving of the product and which nutrients are contained in that serving. Look out for information about: A kilojoule is a measure of energy. To lose weight, you need to eat and drink fewer kilojoules than you use. You should limit your intake of foods that have more than kj per serve. Fat is higher in kilojoules than other nutrients, so you should limit the total amount you eat. There are different types of fats. Saturated fats are linked to an increased risk of heart disease and high blood cholesterol, so it is especially important to choose foods low in saturated fat. Carbohydrates are found in all fruit and vegetables, all breads and grain products, and sugar and sugary foods. You need carbohydrates for energy. Click to open PDF. Sugar is a type of carbohydrate. It is better to choose healthier carbohydrates and to limit foods that are high in added sugars. High fibre foods such as wholegrain bread and cereals improve digestion and help you to feel full. This tells you how much salt the product contains. Eating too much salt is linked to high blood pressure and can lead to heart disease, strokes and kidney disease. Health Star Rating system The Health Star Rating on the front of the pack is designed to help you choose healthier foods at a glance. The rating is calculated according to ingredients that increase the risk of obesity and contribute to other chronic diseases. The more stars, the healthier the product. Chapter 8 : How to Read Food Labels Precise Portions  The amounts shown on the label refer to a single serving. If you tend to eat more than the listed serving size in a single sitting, do the math to get the right numbers. 6 of Chapter 9 : Food labels - NHS As you read through this guide keep in mind that the Nutrition Facts label changes from time to time. The label you see in the store today will be changing in the coming years to reflect the newest health guidelines established by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Page 10