By Sofia Segounis, Nutritionist

Label reading, label reading, label reading. These are the words that you constantly hear from health care professionals when counseled on nutrition. Sure, anyone can read a label, but do you really know what all those numbers mean?

Food labels can give us a wealth of information when we know what to look for. Labels provide three categories of information: the nutrition facts table, the ingredients list and the nutrition claims.

The nutrition facts table is a standardized table found on most prepackaged foods. On it, you can find information on the energy, carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals in the individual product. All of the information on the nutrition facts table is based on the serving size that is stated at the top of the table. The serving size is not the recommended serving size, but the size the manufacturer has chosen to base their information on. The energy is shown in calories; protein, carbohydrates and fat are shown in grams; vitamins and minerals are shown in percentages. The percentages are the daily values (%DV) based on reference standards. The nutrition facts table allows you to not only see the breakdown of the product, but to also compare it with similar products.

The second category is the ingredients list. The ingredients list allows you to see what is in the product. The ingredients are listed by weight from most to least. In other words, if the product lists sugar as the first ingredient, the individual product contains more sugar than any other ingredient. The ingredients list is also of utmost importance to those who have food allergies.

If, for any reason, there is no nutrition facts table you can get an idea of the breakdown of the product by the ingredients list. For instance, a listing for sugar or wheat flour at the beginning of the list, as well as different types of sugars (syrup, fructose, etc), tells you that the product is high in carbohydrates. If oils and fats are listed at the beginning of the list, the food item is higher in fat. In addition, if the fats are listed as partially hydrogenated oil, this tells you that the item contains trans-fatty acids.

The third category is the nutrition claims that appear on the front of a package. These claims can be content claims or health claims.

Content claims are in relation to nutrients, such as, “High in fiber”, “Reduced fat” or “An excellent source of calcium”. There are set standards that these claims must follow, for example: 

• Sodium-free = 5 mg of sodium or less, not 0
• Lowfat = 3 grams of fat or less (Click here for more examples).

The word light has also perplexed many consumers. Does it refer to the fat? Not necessarily. Light could mean calories, fat, color, taste, etc. Take two bottles of oil from the same company for example. One bottle says light. You might assume that because it is referring to the oil, light means less fat. Read the label. The fat content and calories are exactly the same. Light in this case simply means lighter in color. Tricky, isn’t it?

A health-related claim is when diet is related with a disease. An example is “A diet low in saturated fats and trans fats may reduce the risk of heart disease”. These health claims must be supported by scientific evidence and must also list the nutrient related to this claim in the nutrition facts table. This particular claim must not only list the total fat content but also the saturated and trans fat content.

Now that you have completed label reading 101, you are ready to face a trip to the supermarket with confidence.

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