You are what you eat. This is the essence of mindful eating. Have you ever picked up a breakfast cereal pack to read its content out of boredom and you see a bunch of random numbers in percentages or grams and words like ‘saturated fat’, ‘daily values’ etc, and you’re confused about what they even mean? Well, these words and figures make up what we call a “Food Label” and in this article, we will help you understand what food labels are and what roles they can play in influencing your food choices.
What Are Food Labels And Why Are They Important?
A food label is a written description of the number of nutrients, calories, and serving sizes present in a food item.
It gives a general overview of the nutritional value of a food product and makes it easier to compare similar products, bearing in mind that nutrition information may differ with brands. This is useful for choosing healthier alternatives. For example, if you want a protein bar, a food label would come in handy by showing you which food package contains a higher protein or a lesser sugar content.
Components Of A Food Label
There are four (4) main things you should look out for when reading food labels:
- Serving Size
- Calories
- Nutrients
- Daily Values
1. Serving Size
The serving information is the first thing to look out for when reading a food label. It shows you what a serving is and how many servings are in a food pack.
Serving sizes are usually measured in grams, cups, pieces etc. For example, when you look at the food label of a tub of greek yoghurt, you might see “Serving size is ¼ cup or 90ml or 90g” under the serving size component.
The serving size reflects the amount that people typically eat or drink. It is not a recommendation of how much you should eat or drink but rather it is a reference point.
It is also important to note that the serving size influences other nutrients shown on the label including the number of calories present in each serving. This means that you will get more calories and nutrients from a food product when you eat larger servings of that food product and vice versa.
2. Calories
Calories show you how much energy you’re getting from a serving of food. If one serving of a tub of yoghurt is 120kcal and there are 5 servings, then the whole tub of yoghurt would be 600kcal. We arrived at this by simply multiplying the calories for one serving by the number of servings present in the food product.
The general recommendation for daily calorie intake is about 2,000 calories. This could also vary based on factors like age, weight, gender, and physical activity level as discussed in our previous article about calories.
3. Nutrients
This is a very key component of the food label as it shows you the available nutrients present in that food pack and their respective quantities.
Firstly, you should know the nutrients to consume more and those to consume less.
Nutrients to consume less: Saturated fat, Added Sugars, Sodium (Salt) and Cholesterol. The increased intake of these nutrients has an association with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (a group of disorders of the heart & blood vessels), and high blood pressure.
Saturated fat
Saturated fat is also known as the “bad fat” because excess consumption has been associated with increased levels of LDL-Cholesterol (bad cholesterol affecting heart health). It’s found majorly in animal products (dairy, poultry, beef), butter, palm oil, tropical oils, and ultra-processed foods.
It is recommended that your saturated fat intake should be less than 10% of your total daily calorie intake (which ranges from 1800 – 2000 calories for women and 2000 – 2500 calories for men). Men should not eat more than 30g of saturated fat a day and women should not eat more than 20g of saturated fat a day.
Let’s do a bit of math for better understanding.
10% of 1,800 kcal gives us 180kcal
1g of fat gives 9 kcal
Therefore, 180kcal translates to 20g of saturated fat (180kcal divided by 9kcal) which is the healthy limit for daily saturated fat intake for women. The same logic applies to men.
Added sugars
You may be wondering, “Isn’t it all sugar? What’s the difference?”. Well to start, added sugars are much different than Total sugars. Total sugars on a food label refer to sugars that are naturally present in foods like milk or fruit and it includes added sugars that may be present in the product. Added sugars refer to sugars that are added to the food during food processing. This ranges from sweeteners to sugar syrups, table sugar, etc. Always look out for “Includes” to know if the product contains added sugar or not.
For example, a packet of biscuits that has the words “Total sugar 18g; includes Added sugar 8g” means that it contains 10g of naturally occurring sugars and 8g of added sugars.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults and children reduce their daily intake of added sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake (about 12 teaspoons) per day. A further reduction to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day provides additional health benefits.
- Salt/Sodium
The recommended daily intake of sodium is 2,300mg which is 6g of salt per day and translates to a levelled teaspoon of salt. High intake of salt has been directly linked to high blood pressure which can be quite fatal.
Having talked about all the nutrients to consume less, let’s talk about what to positively look out for in your food label.
Nutrients to consume more: Dietary Fibre, Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, and Potassium. Many people do not consume enough of these nutrients, especially dietary fibre, iron, and vitamin D.
Having a good amount of fibre in your meals is beneficial to your digestive system, and reduces your (high) blood glucose and cholesterol. Diets higher in vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium can reduce the risk of developing Osteoporosis (a medical condition in which the bones become brittle and fragile as a result of the deficiency of calcium or vitamin D), Anemia, (a condition in which the blood doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells), and high blood pressure.
- 4. Daily values
The % Daily Value (%DV) tells you how much a nutrient present in a serving of food contributes to a total daily 2,000-calorie diet. It doesn’t vertically add up to 100%. It’s just an easy way of telling you if a serving of food is high or low in nutrients.
General Guide to % D V:
5% DV or less of a nutrient per serving is considered low.
20% DV or more of a nutrient per serving is considered high.
For example, if you have a pack of biscuits and on the daily values, the sodium content per serving is 8% and 200mg, this means that you have consumed 200mg out of the daily recommended intake of 2,300mg of sodium. This could potentially mean that your biscuit is low in sodium.
Daily values can also help you do a “trade-off”. This simply means that if you have a pack of food high in salt, for instance, you can balance it off by having other foods with low salt content. That way, you’re able to enjoy some of your favourite foods that contain this nutrient in high proportion. However, this should not be a constant practice.
So, while choosing a food product, always go for products that contain more of these nutrients – Dietary fibre, Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, Potassium (in terms of %Daily value i.e. >20%) and less of these nutrients – Saturated Fat, Sodium, and Added Sugars (in terms of %Daily value i.e. <5%)
RED, AMBER, AND GREEN COLOR CODING
There is also an easier and also interesting way of reading food labels and understanding how much nutrients are present in that food pack.
Some food labels contain the colours Red, Amber, and Green, to show the number of nutrients like added sugars, saturated fat, sodium, and in some cases dietary fibre, present. Just like a traffic light, this directs you on what to pick and how much of a food product to consume.
The colour coding is usually seen at the front of a food pack which is the first thing you see before going to a detailed food label on the back or the side of a food pack.
RED – High and you should have very minimal amounts or you can do away with it.
AMBER – Moderate and you can have it but also in minimal amounts
GREEN – Low and you can have it in moderate to high amounts.
If the nutrition labels use colour coding, you’ll often find a mixture of red, amber, and green. So when choosing between similar food products, try to go for more greens, ambers, and fewer reds.
Finally, it is important to note that reading food labels is not just for fitness enthusiasts or nutrition experts, it is an important information guide that everyone should get familiar with as it helps you better understand the nutritional composition of meals and make better food choices.
With a better understanding of food labels, you can now reduce your salt intake, exercise portion control, increase your fibre and micronutrient intake and take better control of nutrition and health.
At Eden Life, we prioritize the health and well-being of our customers so we are intentional about serving healthy and delicious meals. We also make sure our customers are adequately informed about the meals they get from us.
Eden Life currently provides calorie information for meals on our menu. Beyond calories, we’re also moving to provide additional nutritional information about meals on our menu, to help our users make more informed food decisions! Want to learn more about Eden’s meal plan and options? Check us out here.