Understanding what’s in the food and beverages you and your children consume is essential for making healthier choices, and Nutrition Facts labels are a powerful tool to help you do just that. These labels provide a snapshot of a product’s nutritional content, including calories, fats, sugars and essential nutrients, allowing consumers to compare items and choose options that align with their dietary goals. However, interpreting these labels can sometimes be challenging.
This article provides an overview of Nutrition Facts labels and offers practical tips for using them to support healthy eating habits.
Overview of Nutrition Facts Labels
Even though most people don’t remember a time when packaged food did not have nutrition labels, it was not a requirement until after the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was signed into law. This law required most food packages to contain a detailed, standardized Nutrition Facts label with information, such as serving size, number of calories, grams of fat, saturated fat, total carbohydrate, fiber, sugars, protein, cholesterol and sodium. Exemptions apply for some types of food, such as in restaurants, packaged foods from small businesses and specific categories of food.
The Nutrition Facts label debuted on products in May 1994. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised it in 2016 to reflect new scientific information and help consumers make more informed choices. Visit the FDA’s website to learn more about Nutrition Facts labels.
Tips for Reading Food and Beverage Labels
While nutritional facts labels have existed for quite some time, they can still be challenging to decipher. The following tips can help you understand the information and how it can help you maintain a healthy diet:
1. Review the ingredients
The ingredients of a product are listed in order of quantity, from the most used ingredient to the least used. Avoid products that list refined grains, sugars or hydrogenated oils as the first ingredients, as they tend to be less nutritious. Choose items with whole foods (i.e., foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, such as oatmeal, rice, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds) listed as the main ingredients. The more ingredients, the more processed the food is likely to be. To avoid ultra-processed foods, consider limiting foods with an excessive number of ingredients.
2. Pay attention to serving sizes
A serving size refers to the recommended amount of food or beverage for one person to consume at a time. It’s essential to pay close attention to this number because many packaged foods contain more than one serving. For example, if a bag of chips lists three servings and you eat the whole bag, you’re actually consuming three times the calories, fat and other nutrients shown on the label.
3. Watch for misleading claims
While most information is on the Nutrition Facts labels, manufacturers may also place health claims on the front of the label to attract consumers. Be wary of certain words and phrases, such as light, multigrain, natural, organic, no added sugar, low calorie, low fat or low carb. These may all appear to be good things, but they are often not indicative of how healthy the food actually is.
4. Understand different names and types of sugars
There are countless names for different types of sugars. Manufacturers use this to their advantage to hide the actual amount of sugar in a product. Some examples include corn sweetener, dextran, maltose, glucose and evaporated cane juice. Understanding how to read different sugars on a nutrition label can help you make informed choices, manage health conditions, avoid hidden sugars and stay within recommended daily limits.
5. Check the percent daily values
These percentages tell you how one serving of a food or beverage fits nutritionally into a suggested daily diet of 2,000 calories. For example, 5% or less is low, and 20% or more is high. The percent daily values show how much a nutrient in one serving contributes to your total daily diet, helping you quickly assess whether a food or beverage is high or low in specific nutrients like sugar, sodium, fiber or vitamins.
Conclusion
Understanding Nutrition Facts labels can play a key role in supporting healthy eating habits. By learning to interpret the information they provide, you can make smarter decisions about what you and your children consume and better compare the nutritional value of different products. Maintaining a balanced diet along with regular physical activity can help keep your body strong and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. For personalized guidance, consider consulting a health care professional or a registered dietitian.
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