Nutrition 101 series: Understanding nutritional labels

Do you ever find yourself at the supermarket looking at two similar products wondering which one if better for you? You look at the nutritional panel on the back but don't quite understand what the numbers mean. Well you're not alone.

Is a product healthier just because it is 99% fat free or is low sugar better? Well let's break it down to basics. Nutritional panels are not all the same but generally they should have the basic info on total energy, fat, carbohydrates and sodium. The numbers will either represent the amount of calories or kilojoules, or be a percentage of the recommended daily intake.

Usually there are two columns on a panel - the first being the nutritional values of the serving size, and the second the nutritional value in 100g. Some foods might have a percentage of the recommended daily intake instead. Serving sizes vary between products so it is hard to compare foods based on this. The nutritional value in 100g is the easiest way to compare different food items.

When you are looking at individual food items it is VITAL to look at both sets of numbers to make sure you are eating the right amount of calories. Let's use the following nutritional label as an example. This particularly label doesn't state the serving size but using some basic math it works out to be approximately 300grams.

KEY THINGS to look out for include:

1. TOTAL ENERGY (kcal or kJ)

The label above shows that there are 315 kcal or 1345 kJ in ONE serving size. An average adult has a recommended intake of 2000 calories or 8368 kilojoules per day. So this particular food provides 16% of the recommended daily energy amount.

2. PROTEIN (g)

There is 23.7g of protein in one serving which makes up 53% of the daily recommendation. This looks like a lot but remember that the serving size is 300g which is approximately a medium sized meal.

3. FAT (g)

The total amount of fat is 12.6g BUT 8.1g of that is saturated fat. In my previous article I explained the different types of fats. Saturated fats are the kind you want to avoid along with trans-fats. Even though the total fat percentage is only 18%, the portion of saturated fat contributes to 41% of the daily recommendation. So it is important to look at the different types of fats in your food.

4. SUGAR (g)

You might be wondering why I have skipped over carbohydrates but what you might not know is that sugar is a type of carbohydrate. Carbohydrates provide us with a large portion of the energy we need to function but try to avoid foods which have sugars making up a large proportion of the carbohydrates. Sugar is something our body wants but DOESN'T actually need!

5. SODIUM (mg)

Sodium is usually expressed in milligrams but in this particular case it is written in grams. There is 0.72g or 720mg of sodium in one serving which makes up 30% of the daily recommendation.

So the next time you go shopping, why not stop and check the nutrition label using your newly acquire skills!

JW