Nutrition

Understanding Food Labels

Food labels are intended to help you make healthy choices. Food labels can help you choose products with less fat or more fiber. Unfortunately, many people get very confused by labels. Below are some simple tips for reading labels.

1. Find the Serving Size. All of the nutrition information provided on the label is based on this serving size. For example, one serving size of this product is 2 crackers. If you eat two crackers, the nutrition label will tell you the nutrients in those crackers. If you eat four crackers, you must multiply everything by two. It is important to remember to look at serving size when choosing a product.
2. Calories come from fat, carbohydrate and protein. Calories is the total amount of calories in one serving size. If you eat more than one serving, you need to multiply this by the number of servings you eat.
3. Calories from Fat measures the number of calories that come from fat. A low fat product is less than 25% fat. To determine if a product is low fat, divide the total calories by 4. This will give you 25% of the total calories. If this number is greater than the calories from fat, it's a low fat product.
4. Total Fat measures the fat in grams. This tells you how much fat is in one serving size. Fat is broken down into Saturated Fat and Trans Fat. These fats are bad for your heart and should be eaten in small quantities.
5. Cholesterol is only found in animal foods. Experts have found that cholesterol in the blood is affected by dietary fat more than dietary cholesterol. So, if you've been told to watch your cholesterol, keep your eye on the fat content.
6. Sodium is a mineral that your body needs to function. A high sodium diet is linked to hypertension (high blood pressure). You can have approximately 2,000 mg of sodium each day. Take this into consideration when choosing foods.
7. Total Carbohydrate includes Dietary Fiber, Sugar and Other Carbohydrates. For people with diabetes, it is important to look at the Total Carbohydrate, not just the sugar. If there is more than 5 grams of fiber in a product, fiber can be subtracted from the total carbohydrate.
8. Protein in food helps build protein in the body. Most Americans have more than enough protein in their diet.
9. Percentages are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. These numbers can be confusing, so focus on the grams and milligrams instead of percentage.