Reading Food Labels

The saying is "you are what you eat". But how can you really know what's going into the food you eat? Luckily for the consumer, the humble food label comes to the rescue. By being able to accurately read a food label, you can know the components (both good and bad) that make up processed foods, how these may affect one's health.

By law, all prepared food (bread, canned and frozen food, drinks, snacks, desserts, cereal, etc.) require labeling. Raw produce such as vegetables, fruits, and fish though are exempt from food labeling.

A Food Label's Three Main Parts

1. Serving Size: How large a serving is in an easy-to-gauge way (1 cup, 4 glasses, etc.) It also states how many servings there are in the product.
2. Calorie Information: The amount of calories per serving and the percentage of calories obtained from fat.
3. Nutrient Information: The nutrients that make up the food are listed in this main block. The ones that may present a health problem are listed first (such as cholesterol, trans fat, sodium, sugar, etc.), and those which are beneficial (and most people don't get enough of) listed next.

With this information you can change your diet to improve your health, lessening the risk of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.

The food label may also contain a footnote outlining the daily amount of intake recommended by public health experts for certain nutrients. This is known as the Daily Value and is based on a 2,000 or 2,500-calorie diet, and is used as reference. The percentage of the Daily Value (or %DV) is also shown beside the nutrients.

Food Labeling Terms

A manufacturer can't just print "Low Fat" on their product. The presence of specific terms on labels means the food product meets certain criteria:

Fat-free: the food has less than half a gram of fat per serving without additional fat or oil.

Low-fat: the food contains three grams or less of fat per serving.

Less fat: a product can only display this if it has twenty five percent or less fat than similar foods.

Saturated fat-free: the food has less than half a gram of saturated fat and less half a gram of trans fat per serving

Cholesterol-free: the food provides less than two milligrams of cholesterol and two grams or less of saturated fat per serving.

Low Cholesterol: the food contains twenty milligrams or less of cholesterol and two grams or less of saturated fat per serving.

Extra Lean: Poultry, meat or seafood with this label has less than five grams fat, two grams saturated fat, and ninety five milligrams of cholesterol per hundred-gram serving.

Lean: Poultry, meat or seafood with this label has less than ten grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, and ninety five mgs of cholesterol per hundred-gram serving.

Light: for fat, means that the product has half or less fat than similar products. For calories, it means the food contains one-third the calories of comparable foods.

High, Rich in, or Excellent Source of: means that the food provides a fifth or more of the Daily Value of a nutrient.

Fewer, Less, or Reduced: means that the food has 25% or less of a nutrient than a comparable product.

Low, Little, Few, or Low Source of: means that the food can be consumed repeatedly without going over the maximum Daily Value allotted for that nutrient.

More, or Added, or Good Source Of: the food gives at least 10% of the Daily Value of a nutrient than comparable foods.

High-fiber: the food has 5 or more grams of fiber per serving.

Sugar-free: the food contains less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving.

Sodium (or salt)-free: the food contains less than 5 milligrams of sodium in each serving.

Very Low Sodium: the food has 35 mg or less of sodium per serving.

Low Sodium: the food provides 140 mg or less of sodium per serving.