Aim: How can food labels help us determine if a food is healthy?
Pleas view the website http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html for more information on how to read a food label.
For basic tips, see below.
When comparing food labels, it is important to think about what your goal is in terms of improving your health. For example, if your goal is to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet, then you would look at the amount of carbohydrates in the food and how many of those carbohydrates come from sugar. If you are looking to lower the amount of cholesterol in your diet, look at the amout of fat in the food and choose a food with lower saturated fat and cholesterol. If you are looking to increase the amount of fiber in your diet, look for foods that are higher in fiber.
Food labels and counting calories can be overwhelming, but here are some basic guidlelines.
1. Start with the serving size. The serving size will tell you how big a serving is and how many of those servings are in a package.
2. Check the number of calories. The amount of calories indicates how much energy is in one serving of the food. Many Americans eat excessive amounts of calories that dont' have any nutritional value. Looking at the calories will help you monitor your calorie intake and manage your weight. As a guideline, 40 calories is low, 100 calories is moderate, 400 or more calories is high.
3. Look at the nutrient information. The label will tell you how much fat, cholesterol, soduim, fiber, sugar and vitamins and minerals there are in the serving. You want to limit the amount of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium in your diet. You also want to make sure you get enough vitamins, minerals and fiber in your diet. As a guideline, look at the percentages of these nutrients. 5% is low, and 20% is considered high.
4. The Percent Daily Values DV%. The percent daily values are the recommendations of nutrients based on a 2000 calorie diet. The percentages help you determine if the food is high or low in a particular nutrient (5% being low and 20% being high). They also help you determine how much of your daily intake of that nutrient is coming from a serving. For example, if one serving of macaroni and cheese is 20% of your daily values of fat, then in one serving you have just eaten 20% of the fat it is recommended you eat in one day. If you have two servings in one sitting, you have eaten almost half of your daily recommendation of fat.