Nutritional Facts Label: How To Read Them Efficiently

Nutritional Facts Label: How To Read Them Efficiently

by Josephine Dalton (Trainer Jo) cPT, cNS
All rights reserved. Feel free to share my article, but please link back to my site.
January 2012

One of the biggest and most useful skills you can ever acquire is the ability to red a simple nutritional facts label. Many people find healthy grocery shopping can be confusing, especially with all of the deceptive marketing tactics used by food manufacturers. Learning how to read the nutritional facts labels will make the difference between being able to acquire healthy eating habits or being dependent upon diets.  This one skill is worth thousands of dollars in both grocery bills as well as long term medical bills.  Afterall, healthier people see doctors more seldomly, have fewer health insurance claims and miss fewer days of work. So grab a food package, tune into the nutritional facts label, and learn you something worthwhile.

NUTRITIONAL FACTS LABEL BREAKDOWN

1. Serving Size
This is one of the most overlooked aspects of the nutritional facts label. There is no standardization in what is considered a true “serving size”.  Therefore, if a mere glance is invested, you might be getting this all wrong. Intended to give the consumer a general idea of what a standard portion of that particular food, the size could be anything; 1 oz, 1 cup, etc.  And the range of calories per serving will vary greatly depending on what the serving size is.  So take a moment to see what the portion size of that particular food is.

2.  Number of Servings

Next to the serving size at the top of the nutritional facts label is the number of servings (or portions) each food item will contain. This will help you to determine just how many servings are available to you in that food.  For example, a bag of chips may have a serving size of 1 oz with a total of 4 servings (or 4 ounces). If you eat the entire bag, you will have to quadrupled everything stated on the label.

3. Percent Daily Value
I personally do not go into much depth about this part of the nutritional facts label because the numbers in this area do not apply to everyone. It is based on a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet. Not everyone eats 2,000 calories a day so your unique daily values will ay from these percentages and that alone varies depending on various factors, such as age, gender, height & weight and activity level.  But do take a look at it to see just how nutritious the food is if it were for your family member that did required a 2000 calorie diet. Talk to a Registered Dietician (RD) for values specifically for you.

3. Calories
Calories are the amount of energy supplied by a food.This is requirement on all nutritional facts label since obesity is at epidemic proportions in our country. A true calorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celcius. A dietary Calorie is 1000 true calories.  One gram of fat contains 9 calories.  1 gram or protein or carbohydrates contain 4 calories. And one gram of dietary alcohol contains 7 calories.

4. Calories from Fat
Depending on your individual needs and goals, your fat consumption should be less than 30% of your total calories in. Keep in mind that each gram of fat, whether it is saturated fat or one of the healthier fats, is 9 calories per gram. And trans-fats should be completely avoided.

5. Total Fat
This is the total amount of fat in the serving size. The total is broken down by the type of fat (polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, saturated and trans) and is listed as follows:

• Saturated fat – Limit saturated fat to 10% of total daily calories. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Diets high in saturated fat have been linked to chronic disease, specifically, coronary heart disease.”
• Trans fat – This type of fat must be avoided at all costs!  Tis type of fat has been found to increase your “bad” cholesterol and reduce your “good” cholesterol. Food companies can be deceptive in their listing of this type of fat and will often claim 0 when in all actuality, it contains 0.5 g or less per serving. Check the ingredients and look for anything “hydrogenated”; this is trans fats. AVOID IT !
• Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated fats – This should be the majority of your fat intake. These are the good fats that are healthy for you in appropriate amounts.  Never assume that just because it is healthy, that it will cause weight loss or “burn fat”.  And you are better off getting a little bit of this type of fat than nothing at all, or all of your fat from saturated or trans fats. (2). Nuts are a great source of healthy fats.

6. Cholesterol
In general, the majority of people should limit their cholesterol intake up to about 200 mg/day. But in general, your diet should never be completely void of cholesterol. Cholesterol is the precursor to all hormones, nerve cell insulator and an integral part of all cell membranes. (1).  Exercise helps lower bad cholesterol.

7. Sodium
Salt is sodium chloride (NaCl).  It is necessary electrolyte and cannot be excluded from your diet completely. Too much can cause high blood pressure due to increased blood volume.  But at the same time, low dietary sodium can be deadly. Sodium helps maintain fluid balance in the body, nerve transmission, and influences the contraction and relaxation of muscles fibers. (3)  Luckily, the American diet is laden with sodium and/or salt, so simply skipping the salt shaker can take care of most dietary sodium issues. The American Heart Association recommends limiting sodium intake of to 1500 mg/day. The typical American consumes about 3400 mg of sodium per day. (3)

8. Total Carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a macronutrient from which energy is derived. Structurally, they are a fusion of one or two Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen molecules. One molecule is called a sugar, while other Carbohydrates contain a marriage of three or more of these carbohydrate molecules  called complex carbohydrates.  They come in many forms from simple sugars (table sugar, high fructose corn syrup) to complex or “starch” carbohydrates such as those found in potatoes and rice and finally, a less digestable form called “fiber” which can be found in most vegetables, fruits & legumes. Depending on the complexity of the structural chain and the body’s ability to break it down into blood sugar (Glucose), these “carbs” fall on a spectrum that starts with low glycemic to high glycemic carbohydrates. The higher the glycemic, the most likely the carb is a sugar and the body processes it much faster than that of a lower glycemic carbohydrate. Sugars are culprits for weight gain because of its effect on insulin levels. But for the sake of reading a nutrition label,  what you need to know is the fiber and sugar content.

• Fiber - A food, especially raw vegetables and fruits,  that has 5 g of fiber or more is a good source of fiber – The Mayo Clinic suggest women consume 21-25 grams of fiber per day and men should consume 30-38 grams per day.
• Sugar - This figure is the amount of carbohydrate in a food that hs a direct effects on blood sugar. Can be any form of carbohydrate including Fructose or fruit sugar, table sugar, complex carbohydrates.
• Sugar Alcohol- A type of carbohydrate called “polynols” that substitutes for sugar. This number is the amount of carbohydrate that does have a direct effect on blood sugar. They are most often only partially digested and can cause intestinal upset.
  - “Sugar Free” labeling can be misleading because sugar alcohols can be excluded from being labeled as sugar. But their content is required to be included in nutritional facts labels.
  - Sugar alcohols contain 0.2 to 3.0 calories per gram… not zero !
  

9. Protein
Another macronutrient from which energy and amino acids are dervied from.  One gram of protein contains 4 calories.  Recommended amount of protein varies from person to person.

10. Vitamins and Minerals

By law, food companies are required to only list the content of vitamins A and C on their nutritional facts label.

11. Footnote
This is that writing at the bottom of the nutritional facts label that breaks everything down or the recommended levels of intakes based on 2,000 & 2,500 calorie diets. Great for those who follow suh a diet. Not so great for those who fall outside those numbers. (5)

So all in all, the Nutritional Facts Label is very helpful in knowing what that particular foods contains in terms of macro and micronutrients.  Although not tailored for everyone, the nutritional facts label if read and calculated correctly, can help you with your weight loss & nutritional dietary program. The great thing about reading nutritional facts labels is that once you understand the breakdown and what each individual part means, very soon you will be scanning any nutritional facts label and making decisions in a matter of seconds !

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A Basic Nutritional Facts Label

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REFERENCES

(1)  National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute.  “High Blood Cholesterol. What You Need To Know”

(2)  Harvard School of Public Health.  Fats and Cholesterol. The Bottom Line.

(3) Mayo Clinic. Sodium: How to tame your salt habit now.

(4) The Mayo Clinic. Carbohydrates. How carbs fit into a healthy diet.

(5)  US Food & Drug Administration. How to understand and use the nutrition facts label.