Pay attention to the serving size. It tells you the amount of food that the nutrient
information given on the label is based on. They are provided in familiar units, such as
cups or pieces, followed by the metric amount, e.g., the number of grams. It is based on
the amount of food a person typically eats. For example, one serving of macaroni and
cheese equals one cup. If you ate the entire package, you would eat 2 cups, which means
you would consume twice the amount of the nutrients listed on the label.
Total Fat: Aim low. Most people need to
cut back on fat! Too much fat may contribute to a whole list of health problems. Try to
limit your calories from fat. Choose foods with a big difference between the total number
of calories and the number of calories from fat.
Saturated fat: It is listed separately because it's the key player in
raising blood cholesterol and your risk of heart disease. Eat less!
Cholesterol: A second cousin to fat — can lead to heart disease.
Salt: You call it "salt," the label calls it
"sodium." Either way, it may add up to high blood pressure in some people. So,
keep your sodium intake low Carbohydrates: It has two groups: starches (complex
carbohydrates) and sugars (simple carbohydrates). On a food label, sugars
include…brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, fructose, fruit juice, concentrate
glucose (dextrose), raw sugar, syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar
maltose, molasses, table sugar (sucrose). A food is likely to be high in sugars if one or
several of the above items appears first or second in the ingredients list. GOOD: Less
than 10g per 100g. HEALTHIEST: Less than 2g per 100g.
Fibre: It aids digestion and helps fight some diseases. Look for
products with high fibre
Vitamins and Minerals: Get enough of these nutrients as these can
improve your health and boost your immune system to fight diseases.
Calories: They are a measure of how much energy you get from food.
Calories come from three
sources: fat, protein, and carbohydrate.Too many of this can cause
overweight problems. The units of calorie intake is usually in kilocalories (kcal). One
gram of fat gives 9.5 kcal when consumed. Similarly, carbohydrates yield 4.2 kcal/gram and
proteins yield about 4.1 kcal/gram.
Protein: Protein listed on a nutrition label only refers to the amount
of complete proteins in the food. They are the building blocks of our body. Get more of
these.
