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It Pays to Read the Label

Eating a healthy diet and keeping fit seems to be getting harder every day. Our 24-hour news culture presents us with an endless stream of often conflicting news about what we should be eating or not eating, doing or not doing to maintain our good health Too much saturated fat is bad for your heart? Or is fish oil or olive oil a good choice for a healthier heart?

While the FDA’s food-labeling requirements are meant to help consumers make better-informed choices based upon standardized nutritional facts, many food labels can still be potentially confusing and sometimes even misleading, especially when all you really want is to satisfy that hunger or thirst Bottled water may be touted as “naturally” low in calories, although pure water has no calories at all! Most premium ice cream is sold in 16 ounce, one-pint containers, which is supposed to provide you with 4 servings. Your favorite ice cream brand has a label tells you the fat and calories in a single serving (sometimes 25% or more of the recommended daily amount), but how many of us really have the self-control to stop eating ice cream after one serving? Or the time to figure out how many spoonfuls are in one serving? Nearly every food product sold in the United States must list certain nutrition facts about the product. The label will include information about the ingredients, which by law must be listed with the largest percentage ingredient first. In some food products, the largest percentage ingredient is corn syrup, a form of sugar that can provide energy, but which doesn’t offer much other nutritional value. Even the government-mandated guidelines suffer from a one-size-fits-all approach. The nutrition facts listed on the label are meant to be a guideline for consumers. For example, because each person metabolizes food at a different rate, the number of calories in one serving may represent 20 percent of the recommended daily amount for the average person but may be 15 percent of the requirement for a person who is larger or more active. Despite the sometimes confusing nature of nutrition labeling, it is still a very worthwhile habit to read the label before dropping the item in your shopping cart. It is important to check the label if you want to stay on a particular diet to get ready for the summer season. Nutrition labels can also be invaluable for people with specific food allergies, to know whether a particular packaged food product can be eaten safely.

How to Read Today's Food Labels

Check the panel on the back or side of the package. Look at the serving size. It's an important starting point because calorie and nutrient amounts are based on this amount. Nutrient amounts per serving will be listed either in metric amounts (grams or milligrams) or by the percentage of recommended Daily Values. You can use these amounts to compare nutrient differences among different foods. Some dietary elements must be disclosed on the on the nutrition label, including: fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, fiber, sugars, protein, Vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron. If you're looking for foods with fewer calories or more dietary fiber, calcium, iron, or foods with less fat, sodium or cholesterol, check the label. These are recommended Daily Values for the required nutrients and dietary components, based on a 2,000-calorie diet: