Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a great week!
Another topic that was very popular on my last poll was about: how to read the nutrition facts label on products.
I know it can be overwhelming to look at these tables and not be sure what information is relevant or useful. I will discuss what to look out for and what each part means.
If you're not familiarized with the nutrition facts label at all, this is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and in 2018 it was modified to make it easier for the consumer to read and understand it.
The modifications done were the following:
Added sugars: This was actually one of my favorite additions to the nutrition facts label because it was a lot harder to determine the difference between sugars coming from fruits or if it had sugar or honey. So you may be wondering, which sugars are considered added? This is a list of all the sugars that can be considered for this part: table sugar (sucrose), dextrose, maple syrup, honey and sugars that come from fruit or vegetable concentrates. When it's a sugar free product, instead of mentioning added sugars it will have the "sugar alcohol" line. These are: xylitol, maltitol, mannitol, erythritol, sorbitol.
Removal of calories from fat: I'm glad they removed this part of the nutrition facts label since the amount of calories that come from fat is sort of irrelevant information. It is far more important to consider the quality of the fat than just focus on the calories you're consuming from fat. I know it sounds odd that a dietitian is saying this and especially about fat but excessive amounts of saturated or trans fats have been linked with an increase in heart disease. You may consume a small amount of calories coming from these sources of fat in a specific product but the calories can add up while consuming other foods that have these fats.
Calories and portion size are in a bigger font: I think this is useful because it makes it easier to understand that everything on the label is based on that portion size. Portion sizes are measured with cups and tablespoon/teaspoons that you have in your kitchen. I will also reiterate that the amount of calories should be guided more towards the purpose of this specific product we're consuming. By that I mean that if it's a snack we can expect an amount of calories between 150-250 calories. If we're getting a meal (for example: all those frozen meals at Trader Joe's) you can expect calories to range from 500-600. I know that looks like a lot, but consider that meals are supposed to supply us with the 3 macronutrients (fat, carbs and protein) and some veggies too.
Addition of micronutrients like potassium and Vitamin D: These two are essential since most people tend to be deficient in vitamin D and it's great to know which products have it to increase our vitamin D intake. Potassium is also another micronutrient that most people don't really pay attention to. A lot of people that have renal conditions will benefit from this since they have to restrict at some extent this micronutrient.
Now that we discussed the changes in the new nutrition facts label, let's talk about the other components in the label.
Ingredient List: This is one of the most important components in the nutrition facts label. This part tells you what the product is made of. They are arranged from the most predominant to the least predominant. You can verify if a specific product has too many preservatives, any ingredient that cause you any allergic reaction or any ingredient you may want to stay away from. Many manufacturers want to hide the fact that they're adding sugar, for example and they switch to a different name: instead of sugar it says sucrose (so look into these switch ups). Also, many products include certain preservatives like ascorbic acid, the manufacturer has to state in parenthesis what the function of this preservative is, for example: ascorbic acid (to retain color).
Daily Value: I know a lot of people tend to have trouble with this part. I mean, I get it looking at all these percentages is overwhelming especially if we don't know exactly what they mean. This % is calculated based on a 2,000 calorie. For example: if you're looking at carbs and the % daily value says 17% this means that if you eat the portion size of a specific product, this portion will cover 17% of your total amount of carbs for the day. Daily values can range between 5-10% to be in an adequate range. Another important fact, protein is the only component that won't always show a % daily value, this is because our protein requirement is different depending on our stage in life. It will include ONLY if the product states is high in protein or if it's intended for children less than 4 years of age.
Sodium: This is an important component but we tend to ignore it. Many people tend to have a VERY HIGH sodium intake and it has been linked with a high risk of developing high blood pressure. It may be confusing also to differentiate when people mention sodium and salt! Well, salt includes sodium, if you remember your chemistry classes in high school you knew that in order to make salt you need to combine sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl)= NaCl! So any product that you check that includes salt, sodium phosphate or any other form that includes the word "sodium" means that you need to check the mg per portion. Consider that your daily requirement (that is if you don't have any issues with your blood pressure) is 2,300mg. So if you consume products that tend to have more than 200mg of sodium per portion or a % daily value greater than 10% you're probably having a higher intake. A little trick for you to reduce this is to soak many of your can goods for a few minutes, after discarding that water you can use them and they will have less sodium. Try to focus on products that state they are lower in sodium too!
Fiber: This is a carb that most people don't consume enough. There has been a lot of controversy on how to really determine a high fiber product and finally there is a tool that can be helpful and easy to figure out! It's called the 10:1 ratio. Means that by every 10g of total carbohydrates you need at least 1g of fiber. For example, you have a product that states that the total carbohydrate content is 46g, you divide this number by 10 and this will give you 4.6g. Now you check your grams of fiber, let's say it's 7g. This means that this product is high in fiber because the fiber content is greater to the 4.6g that you determined based on the total carbohydrate content.
Health Claims: These go in the frontal part of the label. There are different types of health claims included:
Function/structure claims: these can inform the consumer if any ingredient of the product may affect the structure or function in the body. It can't say that this specific ingredient cures or prevents conditions. An example: consuming calcium can help you achieve strong bones. It mentions how you can affect the structure of your bones but it's not saying that by consuming this product that has calcium you will prevent osteoporosis.
Health claims: These claims have to have research approved by the FDA to be on the label. But again, you can't guarantee that this will cure you from a specific condition. An example: By consuming green tea you "may reduce" the development of cancer. They always use the phrases "may reduce", "may improve" because it is not a 100% accurate.
Nutrient content claims: These claims are the ones that state if a product is high, low free of a specific nutrient. For example: gluten free, low in sodium, high in fiber, etc.
These are all my tricks and recommendations whenever you're checking a nutrition facts label! I hope they are helpful and if you have any question, contact me through DM or to my email: andreamarro75@gmail.com
Have a great Wednesday!
References:
The New Nutrition Facts Label. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 6/29/2020. https://www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-education-resources-materials/new-nutrition-facts-label
Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 7/10/2020. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/changes-nutrition-facts-label
Mariane de Mello Fontanelli, Renata Micha, Cristiane Hermes Sales, Junxiu Liu, Dariush Mozaffarian & Regina Mara Fisberg. Application of the ≤ 10:1 carbohydrate to fiber ratio to identify healthy grain foods and its association with cardiometabolic risk factors. European Journal of Nutrition, 2019.
Carb to Fibre Ratio. Nina Evans, Research & Trainer in Public Health/25 April 2019. https://www.xperthealth.org.uk/x-pert-blogs/carb-to-fibre-ratio/
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