Label Lingo:
Decoding Food Labels
By Bryan Winters
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 manufacturers
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?
Just
the facts, ma’am
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.
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.
Label-Reading Mistakes to Avoid
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.
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 (for example, reduced fat cream cheese
having 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 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 (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 web site
http://www.fda.gov/ 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.
© Bryan Winters
This article provided courtesy of "Free
Weight Loss Tips." Lose
weight and change your life.
