Can you Read a Label?

STORY BY DEBBIE OLSEN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARTIN LIPMAN

For millions of Canadians living with chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, or stroke, eating a nutritious diet is essential to managing disease symptoms. For the rest of us, eating a proper diet can help to prevent their onset.

TODAY, MAKING GOOD FOOD CHOICES IS SIMPLER than ever. Reading and understanding information on food package labels can help you decide if a product belongs in your shopping cart. Here’s a simple guide to deciphering what’s on a food label and what it means for your health.

THE NUTRITION FACTS TABLE

The Nutrition Facts Table shows the calories, the amount of fat (including a distinction between saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids), cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, fibre, sugars, protein, calcium, iron, and Vitamins A and C in a specified amount of the food considered to be one serving. These are the nutrients that scientists and health professionals consider important to human health.When selecting a food product, try to choose products with more fibre, vitamins, calcium and iron, and less fat, cholesterol and sodium. Too much saturated and trans fat can increase your risk of heart disease and diabetes. If you are diabetic, you may also need to monitor your carbohydrate intake.

WHAT’S IN A SERVING SIZE?

Take a good look at the serving size on the Nutrients Facts table on a food label. The nutritional information on the label will correspond to the serving size specified.Now, ask yourself (honestly) if this amount is a true reflection of your typical serving size. Do you really limit your serving of potato chips to just twelve chips? Do you get eight servings out of one litre of ice cream? If you’re like many adults, you will have to adjust the nutrient numbers to represent your actual serving size. If you eat a double-sized serving, you will get double the calories and twice as many nutrients as a single serving, for example.

COUNT THOSE CALORIES

Next, look at the total number of calories per serving and the amount of each of the nutrients listed in the table. Calories tell you how much energy you get from one serving of a packaged food. The % Daily Value puts the total amounts of each nutrient in context with the total amount recommended in a balanced 2000 calorie diet. These labels are meant to be a guide to indicate if there’s a little or a lot of a particular nutrient in a product.

NUTRITION CLAIMS— WHAT DO THEY REALLY CLAIM?

Look to see if the manufacturer has included any nutrition claims for the product. There are two types of nutrition claims: nutrient content claims and health claims. Nutrient content claims tell you about one ingredient such as sodium, fat, or sugar.Health claims tell you how your diet can affect your health. Even if a product contains nutrition claims, it may not be a good choice for your dietary needs. To assess the overall value of a food, read the nutrition facts and the ingredient list. For example, a “fat-free” product may still be high in calories and inappropriate if weight loss is your goal. This is particularly true of fat-free cookies and cakes.Manufacturers may add extra sugar to these products to create the moisture the fat would have given the regular product. By checking the label, you can assess whether or not the food is appropriate for your particular dietary needs.

IS IT SAFE TO USE FOOD AFTER BEST BEFORE DATES?

Always check for a Best Before Date—it indicates the date by which a food can be safely consumed. If a product is past the expiry date, it may have lost some of its nutritive and aesthetic value; it may taste stale or even be spoiled. Prevent the risk of food-borne illnesses by checking your fridge regularly to clean out products like mayonnaise, sauces and other foods that have passed their Best Before Dates.

INGREDIENTS CAN BE LISTED IN DIFFERENT WAYS

Did you know ingredients are listed in order of the amounts contained in the product? If wheat bran is the first ingredient on the list, then the product has more wheat bran in it than any other ingredient. Remember that sugar can appear in several different ways, which can be deceiving.Molasses, honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, fructose, glucose, sucrose and fruit concentrate are all forms of sugar.When combinations of these ingredients are present in products, the total amount of sugar may be greater than it appears to be. Fat can also be listed in different ways.Hydrogenated safflower oil, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, palm oil, canola oil, margarine, butter, walnut oil, grape seed oil, almond oil, tallow, suet, and lard are some of the forms of fat that might appear on an ingredient list. Fat has more calories than any other component, and limiting saturated and trans fats is especially important for people who may be at risk of heart disease. The ingredient list will also tell you what food additives and preservatives are contained in the product.

IT PAYS TO READ LABELS

There’s no doubt that getting into the habit of reading labels can help us make informed choices for healthy living. The estimated cost of a poor diet in Canada is more than $6.3 billion annually, including direct health-care costs of over $1.8 billion. Taking the time to read what’s on the label can have huge payoffs—and it can be intriguing too!

COMMON FOOD ADDITIVES

Food additives are natural and synthetic chemicals that help preserve, colour, and flavour food. Some additives prevent spoilage and disease, while other additives are actually enrichments that increase the nutrient value of a food. Food additives help to make it possible for food grown in one part of the world to be shipped to consumers thousands of kilometres away and eaten weeks or months after being packaged. In Canada, all additives are subjected to careful laboratory screening by Health Canada before they can be used commercially.

NEW LABELLING LAWS PUT CANADA AT THE FOREFRONT

Canada announced new mandatory food labelling regulations January 2003. Even though large manufacturers have up to three years to comply, new labels are already starting to appear on grocery store shelves. Smaller manufacturers will have up to five years to comply with the new labelling regulations. These new regulations make Canada’s labels the most detailed in the world.

“We are the first country to make trans fat labelling mandatory,” said Dr.Margaret Cheney, Director of Nutrition Evaluation for Health Canada. “And we are the first country to split up the Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids so consumers can make more informed choices.”

Healthy Eating is in Store for You is a public education program spearheaded by the Canadian Diabetes Association and Dietitians of Canada and funded by Health Canada. It’s designed to help consumers make healthy food choices by understanding food labels. •

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAM OR TO TRY SHOPPING IN A VIRTUAL STORE VISIT: HEALTHYEATINGISINSTORE.CA