how to read a nutrition label

How to read a nutrition label

May LaDouceur

Reading a nutrition label

Knowing how to read a nutrition label can act as a guide to eating a healthy diet and can help you to avoid dangerous allergic reactions.

Food labels can be found on most packaged foods, such as chips, frozen dinners, beverages, and many others.

Raw produce, meats, and a few foods like coffee, spices, and alcohol do not have labels. Their information can often be found online, along with many restaurant foods.

Servings

The serving size tells us how much should be eaten at one time. The other values on the food label are based on this serving size

The servings per container tells how many servings are in the package. There is only 1 serving in this package, so the entire package can be eaten at once.

Calories Calories come from carbohydrates,

protein, and fat. Most people need around 1500-2000 calories in a day. The food label bases its information on a 2000 calorie diet.

Calories from fat are listed on the label. This is because it is important to limit your intake of fats to 1/3 or less of your Calories.

Nutrients The rest of the food label tells us how much of each nutrient is in a serving in grams or milligrams.

The percent daily value is on the right side of the label. It shows the percentage of that nutrient you would reach by eating a serving size of the product. This is based on a 2000 calorie diet.

As a rule, 20% or more of the daily value is considered high, while 5% or less is considered low.

Fat Fats are an important part of our diet, but

they should only make up 1/3 of our Calories. Trans fats are not on this label, but they are modified fats that can raise cholesterol and are found in many fried foods. They should be eaten as little as possible. Saturated fats are found in many animal products, and can raise cholesterol if over eaten. They should be limited.Unsaturated fats are good for us and can be found in fish and plant products. Try to make most of your fats unsaturated.

Cholesterol and sodium

Cholesterol is an important part of our diet, but many people eat too much. This increases their risk for heart disease. It is recommended that you eat less than 300 mg of cholesterol a day.

Sodium is also an important part of our diet that people may eat too much of. Getting too much sodium increases blood pressure. You should try to eat less than 2300 mg.

Protein Along with carbohydrates and fat,

protein gives us energy.

Try to eat leaner meats like chicken or lean cuts of steak. Nuts and beans are also great sources of protein.

Vitamins and ingredients

There are many vitamins and minerals, but Vitamin A, calcium, Vitamin C, and iron are often the only ones found on the label. Each vitamin plays an important role in keeping us healthy and preventing disease.

The ingredients list is an important part of a food label. Here we can see if there are any ingredients you are trying to avoid or anything that you may be allergic to.