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Stroll down the
aisle in your supermarket. What do you notice? Traffic
jams from shoppers stopping to read food labels. Congratulations
to all those food label readers. You're going to be a lot
healthier for it.
The major reason for
the change was twofold: (1) to help consumers choose a more healthful
diet and (2) to provide an incentive to food processors to improve the
nutritional quality of their products. Healthier products and more
nutrition information can mean decreased rates of such diseases as
coronary heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and high blood
pressure. Research shows that diet can play a part in these diseases.
Seventy-five percent
of label readers say they frequently decide not to buy a product
because of the information they found on the label. Food
manufacturers are beginning to hear the message. That's why they are
now required to state the amount of trans fats in a product.
What’s so interesting
and useful on the label that can influence whether a person will
purchase a food product? Let’s see.
Look To The Label
Label
for Chili Con Carne
With so much
information now available, deciding what to look at first may be the
problem. Look to
Serving Size
first, which serves as the basis for all the values on the label.
They are now in household measurements (such as cups, teaspoons,
slices, etc), and are much more realistic than they used to be, reflecting what people
actually eat. Manufacturers used to cleverly make serving sizes in
amounts that made the nutrient breakdown of their products more
attractive. You will find similar foods having similar serving
sizes, making it easier to compare one food with another.
For those of you who
like to figure the fat percentage in foods, look to
Calories From Fat. By dividing
that number by “Total Calories”, you end up with the percentage of
fat. However, many people have the misconception that any food
with greater than 30% of fat is a “bad” food and must be eliminated
from their diet. The term % Daily Value was created to avoid
this kind of thinking. A healthy oil such as olive oil may
be100% fat, but one tablespoon is only 21% of your Daily Value for
fat.
% Daily Value is a way to see how a foods fit into your
daily diet. Based on the reference amount of 2,000 calories, the
percentages listed tell you how much of your day’s allowance you use
up when eating a particular food. At the bottom of the label are the
Daily Values for 2,000 calories that serve as the basis for the
percentages. (Daily Values for 2,500 calories are provided for people
who need more calories.)
Looking at the sample
label, a serving of chili uses up 13% of your day’s allowance for
Total Fat. After eating the
chili, you will have 87% of your fat allowance left for other foods.
(Every day you can have a total of 100% Daily Value for each
nutrient.) The Cholesterol at
130 mg. uses up 44% of your cholesterol for the day. This same
analysis works for all the nutrients listed except Sugars and Protein
since no government limits have been set for these nutrients.
If you eat less than
2,000 calories a day, appreciate that the % Daily Value (% DV) numbers
for you will be slightly higher than listed on the label. If you eat
more than 2,000 calories, the numbers will be slightly lower. If
you click on the following link, you'll see a table that converts
label information for your calorie level.
Click here for the "%
Daily Value Converter" so you'll always know
the %DV no matter how many calories you're eating.
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