Understanding nutrition labels is crucial for making informed decisions about your diet and ensuring that the foods you choose truly support your health and wellness goals. We’ve all been there, standing in the grocery shop debating which brand would be best.
‘Healthy’ foods such as yoghurt, cereals, smoothies or protein bars are great examples of foods which, are not always as healthy as you think. Correctly interpreting food labels is arguable one of the most important things you could do to manage your health, weight management, allergy considerations, or maintain a balanced diet.
Read on for more on how to get a better understanding of nutrition labels
How should nutrition labels look?
First, lets delve into which every food label in Australia should have on their nutrition information panel, it should look as follows:
- Often you will get the information in servings with the serving size listed. This is alongside per 100g.
- First, we see the amount of kj that the product contains. This is the amount of energy within the food.
- This is followed by protein, fats including saturated fats, carbohydrates including sugars, and sodium. When reading take into consideration that we want 20-30g of protein per meal, limited saturated fats, sugars and salt.
- The requirement for each food to contain this list “per 100g” makes it easier to compare similar products based on important factors like protein, sugar and saturated fats.
- Following this we get the ingredients list. It is important to note that the ingredients are listed in order of weight. The first ingredient listed will contribute to the majority of the product, and the last the least. The percentage labelling indicated how much of the key ingredients are found in each product. This can be extremely helpful in products like fruit, yoghurts, and bread.
- Australian law requires common allergens like nuts gluten and dairy to be identified.
The Health Star Rating System
- The Health Star Rating system is designed to provide a quick and easy way to compare the nutritional quality of packaged foods. However, it should be read with a “pinch of salt” for a number of reasons.
- The Health Star Rating System is most useful in comparing between foods within the same category. Such as breads, yoghurts or cereals. It is less meaningful when comparing foods across different categories. For example, a low-fat snack might score higher than a whole food like nuts, even though nuts are generally considered more nutritious.
- Stars may also be misleading as some highly processed foods may receive a high star due to the fortification or addition of certain vitamins or minerals. Reduced unhealthy components such as salt and sugar may still be less healthy when compared with whole foods.
Common Nutrition label considerations
Here are some common nutritional claims and what you should take into consideration when you see them.
‘Low Fat,’ ‘Lite,’ and ‘Reduced’ Claims
Understanding that “reduced” only means lower than the regular version. This is not necessarily low and may not always be worth buying.
‘No Added Sugar’
It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean the product is sugar-free, as it might still contain natural sugars.
‘Source of’
Just because something is a source of a nutrient you are looking for – don’t think eating it alone will reach your daily target!
Final tips for making healthier nutrition label choices
- Watch Out for Hidden Sugars: Sucrose, fructose, dextrose, maltose, lactose and high fructose corn syrup are all examples of names given to sugars which may be worth looking out for.
- Check Serving Sizes: Be aware of portion sizes all the time. Even though a food may look low in fat and sugar per 100g may not necessarily mean that it will be when you eat 500g.
- Compare Products: Instead, use the per 100g column to compare products rather than per serving for accurate comparison as servings are generally different sizes.
- Don’t Be Misled by Packaging: Be careful not to be swayed by marketing terms or images on the packaging, you know what to look for now so start reading labels carefully!
In summary
In summary, understanding nutrition labels empowers you to make healthier food choices and avoid common pitfalls in misleading packaging. A food label may look overwhelming. After breaking it down hopefully you realise its just a list of ingredients, nutrients by weight and a easy to understand star rating which can all lead you to make a more informed choice about the food you are going to consume. By being more aware of misleading consumer information and packaging, and having more knowledge on how to compare products and brands, you will be able to start making more informed choices on the foods you consume daily.
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