Using food labels
Food labels give you information to help you make healthy food choices and compare similar foods. Nutrition information is found in three different places.
- Ingredient list
- Nutrient content claims
- Nutrition facts panel
You can use food labels to make healthier food choices. This will also help you manage any blood sugar, blood pressure or blood cholesterol problems you have.
Registered dietitians lead shopping tours in some grocery stores. These tours give you a chance to learn more about label reading. Check with your local grocery store for this service.
Ingredient List
Look for ingredient lists on food packages. The ingredient list provides an overview of what is in the food. Ingredients are listed by weight from most to least.
Ingredient lists are useful for people with food allergies or those who avoid or limit certain ingredients in foods.
References:
National Academy of Science (2002). Dietary reference intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fibre, fat, protein and amino acids.
Health Canada (2003). Nutrition labelling …Get the facts.
Nutrient Content Claims
Nutrient content claims tell you about important nutritional features of a food. A food must meet government standards before it can display a content claim about a nutrient. A nutrient content claim can also highlight a relationship between what you eat and different diseases. For example:
- “A healthy diet rich in a variety of vegetables and fruit may help reduce the risk of some types of cancer”.
- “A healthy diet low in saturated and trans fats may reduce the risk of heart disease”.
Nutrition information related to the nutrient content claim must be present on the food package. See examples of possible nutrient content claims listed on the next page of this handout.
Health CheckTM
The Health CheckTM program can help you make healthy food choices at your grocery store. Health CheckTM foods must meet specific nutrient guidelines set out by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Look for products with this logo on their package.
What do Nutrient Content Claims mean?
The following list provides a summary of some common nutrient content claims you may see on a food.
Free: Product contains an amount so small, health experts consider it nutritionally insignificant.
- Calorie-free: Contains less than 5 calories per serving.
- Sugar-free: Contains less than 0.5 g sugar per serving and is also calorie free.
- Fat-free: Less than 0.5 g of fat per serving.
- Saturated fat-free: Less than 0.2 g saturated fat and 0.2 g trans fat per serving. Does not mean low in total fat.
- Trans fatty acids free: Less than 0.2 g trans fat per serving. Does not mean low in total fat.
- Cholesterol-free: Less than 2 mg of cholesterol per serving and low in saturated fat. Does not mean low in total fat.
- Sodium-free: Less than 5 mg sodium.
No sugar added or unsweetened: No sugar or sugar containing food is added. May contain natural sugars (for example: fruit juice).
No salt added or unsalted: No salt added and none of the ingredients contain a significant amount of salt.
Low: Product contains a very small amount of the nutrient.
- Low calorie: Less than 40 calories per serving or less than 120 calories per 100 g in a prepackaged meal.
- Low fat: Less than 3 g of fat per serving or per 100 g in a prepackaged meal.
- Low saturated fat: Less than 2 g of saturated fat and trans fat combined per serving or per 100 g in a prepackaged meal. Does not mean low in total fat.
- Low cholesterol: Less than 20 mg cholesterol per serving and low in saturated fat or per 100 g in a prepackaged meal. Does not mean low in total fat.
- Low salt/sodium: Less than 140 mg sodium per serving or per 100 g in a prepackaged meal.
Reduced: At least 25% less of a nutrient compared with a similar product. May be used for products that are reduced in calories, sugar, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.
Light or lite: Used to indicate "reduced in fat" or "reduced in calories". May also be used to say lighter in color, texture or flavor. The label must say what is “light” about the food.
Source: Product contains a significant amount of the nutrient.
- Very high source of dietary fibre: At least 6 g of fibre per serving.
- High source of dietary fibre: At least 4 g of fibre per serving.
- Source of dietary fibre: At least 2 g of fibre per serving.
Nutrition Facts Panel
The nutrition facts panel provides information on serving size, calories and at least 13 different nutrients in an easy to read table.
Use the nutrition facts panel to compare similar foods. Choose foods that are higher in fibre, and lower in sugar, salt and fat.
The information in this panel is based on one serving of food. Look at the serving size listed on the nutrition facts panel. If you eat more or less than the listed serving size you have to adjust the nutrient content listed below. For example, if you were to eat half of this muffin you would divide all the nutrient values in half.
Calories are the amount of energy in 1 serving.
Fat is the total amount of fat in 1 serving. 5 g of fat is equal to
1 tsp of fat.
Saturated and trans fats are part of the total amount of fat. These fats raise the "bad" blood cholesterol. Choose foods that are lower in saturated and trans fats.
Fibre helps to promote a healthy heart and control blood sugars. Choose foods that are higher in fibre.
Use % Daily Value to see if a food has a little or a lot of a nutrient compared to what is recommended.
Quick guide to % Daily Value:
5% or less is low. Use for fat, sodium and cholesterol.
10% or less for saturated and trans fat is low.
15% or more is high. Use for fibre, calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C.
Cholesterol is the amount of dietary cholesterol in 1 serving. A product may have no cholesterol but still be high in saturated and trans fat.
Sodium is the amount of sodium in 1 serving. 2300 mg of sodium is equal to 1 tsp (5 mL) of salt.
Carbohydrate is the total amount of starch, sugar and fibre in 1 serving.
- Note: 15 g of carbohydrate is about 1 serving of grain products, vegetable and fruits or milk products from Canada's Food Guide.
Using food labels
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are used in the body for energy. They are found in most foods. Fruit, vegetables, whole grain products and legumes (beans and lentils) should be the main source of carbohydrates and fibre in your diet.
Sugar is also a carbohydrate. Limit how much added sugar you eat in foods. Use the nutrition facts panel to compare products and choose the one with the least amount of sugar and the most fibre.
Fibre
Many carbohydrate containing foods, like fruit, vegetables and whole-grain products contain fibre. We need to eat fibre because:
- Having a high-fibre eating pattern protects against chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
- High-fibre food helps you to feel full. This may help you to control your weight.
- Eating high-fibre food helps to prevent constipation.
- Eating high-fibre food helps control the levels of sugar and fat in your blood.
Use the nutrition facts panel to choose products that are higher in fibre. A food is high in fibre if it has a % Daily Value of at least 15%.
Fibre Facts
To protect against heart disease the average woman needs about 25 g of fibre daily (14 g of fibre for every 1000 calories they eat) and the average man needs about 38 g of fibre daily. Most Canadians only eat half of this amount.
Fats
Eating too much saturated and trans fat may raise your “bad” blood cholesterol. This will increase your risk of heart disease.
Use the “ingredient list” to avoid saturated and trans fats
Read ingredient lists and avoid foods that use the words: shortening, hard margarine, butter, partially hydrogenated oils, lard, coconut oil, or palm oil.
Fat facts
When liquid oil is changed into a solid this is called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation causes trans fat to be formed. Foods like margarine, crackers, and cookies often contain “hydrogenated fat”.
To choose a healthy margarine read the ingredient list. The first ingredient on the ingredient list should be “liquid oil” not
“hydrogenated oil”.
Use the “nutrition facts panel” to avoid saturated and trans fats
Read the nutrition facts panel to choose the product that has the least amount of saturated and trans fats.
For example, when we look at the saturated fat and trans fat for the blueberry muffin the % Daily Value is 15%. That means this muffin is too high in these nutrients.
Foods should have a % Daily Value for saturated and trans fats less than 10%.
If you are trying to limit your fat intake you can also look at the fat grams on the nutrition facts panel. This will help you choose the product with the lowest fat grams.
The average women should eat less than 56 grams of fat daily and the average man should eat less than 82 grams of fat daily. This is based on a diet that provides less than 30% of its calories from fat.
Disclaimer
Reviewed by Alberta clinical experts. Brought to you by HealthLink Alberta. Copyright.
This material is designed for information purposes only. It should not be used in place of medical advice, instruction and/or treatment. For more health advice call Capital Health Link at 780-408-LINK (5465) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In Alberta, call Toll-free: 1-866-408-LINK (5465)
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