Nutritional - Labels

Read the Lables

because

Nutrition Matters

Take control of your family's health!

Where to start?

READ THE NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

ON THE LABLE!

It's there for you!

The nutritional information label was mandated for most food products under the provisions of the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), per the recommendations of the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration[3]. It was one of several controversial actions taken during the tenure of FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler. The law required food companies to begin using the new food label on packaged foods beginning May 8, 1994.

For the most part Congress and the FDA can’t tell a manufacturer what they can put in their product, however with the advent of the food labeling mandate, you can at least see what’s in that package and make your food choices based on that information.

Advocates fought long and hard to get this label placed on your food items.

USE IT!

AND, when you read the labels, get ALL the information! It’s easy to look at a label for, let’s say, Top Raman, and think, “Hmm, not too bad. Only 188 calories per serving.” But oh beware! There are two, got that? TWO servings in that little packet. Also be aware that for many canned items a serving size is only ½ a cup. Most people eat far more than ½ a cup of canned beans or corn or whatever. Be careful with things like canned tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa etc. Very often a serving of those items is only ¼ cup, and for condiments a serving is usually a tablespoon.

If you are on a restricted sodium diet, it is particularly vital that you read the labels. An innocent serving of canned beans can have as many as 700mg of sodium and remember, a health adult should only have between 2,300 and 2,500mg of sodium a day.

Remember, the manufactured can put just about anything he wants in your food, but at least in most cases he has to tell you about it.

READ LABLES

Since 1994 food manufacturers have been required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to include food labels (or Nutrition Facts labels) on product packaging so that consumers have accurate nutritional information about the food they purchase. Once you understand the information they provide, you can use food labels as a guide to planning healthier meals and snacks for your family.

Food labels are required on almost all foods, except those that don't provide many nutrients such as coffee, alcohol and spices. Although some restaurants provide information about the food they serve, they aren't required to have labels. The FDA recommends that sellers provide nutritional information on produce, meat, poultry and seafood, but it's strictly voluntary.

Understanding Serving Sizes:

To understand more about food labels and serving sizes, look to the sample food label on the right. At the top of the label under Nutrition Facts, you'll see the serving size and the number of servings in the package. The rest of the nutrition information in the label is based on one serving. In this example, one cup is designated as one serving, and the package contains two servings.

That means that if you eat the whole box of macaroni and cheese, you’re eating two servings, not one, so you’ll have to multiply the number of calories, fat grams and other nutrients by two to get accurate nutrition information.

Measuring Cup Set 18/8 SS.

http://www.lifeclinic.com/IMAGES/nutri_label.gif

Understanding Label Lingo:

In addition to requiring that packaged foods contain a Nutrition Facts label, the FDA also regulates the use of phrases and terms used on the product packaging. Here's a list of common phrases you may see on your food packaging - and what they actually mean.

No fat or fat free: Contains less than 1/2 gram of fat per serving
Lower or reduced fat: Contains at least 25 percent less per serving than the reference food. (An example might be reduced fat cream cheese, which would have at least 25 percent less fat than original cream cheese.)
Low fat: Contains less than 3 grams of fat per serving
Lite: Contains 1/3 the calories or 1/2 the fat per serving of the original version or a similar product
No calories or calorie free: Contains less than 5 calories per serving
Low calories: Contains 1/3 the calories of the original version or a similar product
Sugar free: Contains less than 1/2 gram of sugar per serving
Reduced sugar: at least 25% less sugar per serving than the reference food
No preservatives: Contains no preservatives (chemical or natural)
No preservatives added: Contains no added chemicals to preserve the product. Some of these products may contain natural preservatives
Low sodium: contains less than 140 mgs of sodium per serving
No salt or salt free: Contains less than 5 mgs of sodium per serving
High fiber: 5 g or more per serving (Foods making high-fiber claims must meet the definition for low fat, or the level of total fat must appear next to the high-fiber claim)
Good source of fiber: 2.5 g to 4.9 g. per serving
More or added fiber: Contains at least 2.5 g more per serving than the reference food

With a bit of practice, you'll be able to quickly scan a food label and learn how the food fits into your nutrition and diet for the day. However, be aware that all the above information can be confusing and misleading.

A good example: My oldest son, who suffered from Congestive Heart Failure, (CHF) was restricted to between 500 and 700 mg of sodium a day. He loved oriental food and of course that means soy sauce. We were shopping and he saw a bottle of soy that said Reduced Sodium, so he bought it. When I read the nutritional label I discovered that it still contained 600 mg of sodium per serving as opposed to the 800 mg in regular soy sauce. Well, as you can see, one serving would pretty much wipe out his sodium allotment for the day, yet he thought he was O.K. because it said, "Reduced Sodium.” So, be careful and read all the information.

Ingredients list: oh boy is that one important to read. The law says they have to list the ingredients and that they have to be listed in descending order of the amount – largest amount first, least amount last. If there is the same amount of two ingredients, it is the manufacturer’s choice which one he chooses to list first. Be aware that no matter how small the amount of an ingredient used, that ingredients is may to be listed in the name of the product.

For example: you may pick up a package of breakfast cereal that boldly calls its self, “Honey and Wheat Germ Breakfast Cereal.” When you turn the package over and read the ingredients list, in some cases you will find that the honey and wheat germ are listed after the preservative, and artificial flavoring and coloring. That means there is precious little of those two expensive ingredients in that box of cereal, yet, it may be called Honey and Wheat Germ Cereal.

Unsuspected Culprits:

Be sure to read the lables on items you wouldn’t normally think of. I bought a turkey a while back. Turkey; an excelled, lean source of protein. Well, I didn’t think to read the label did I, and guess what? It had been injected with butter and sodium, among other things; no longer a lean, low sodium source of protein!

An Accident?

Is it an accident that many labels are in such small print that they are very difficult to read, or that they are often printed in colors that do not contrast much from the color of the label, again making them very difficult to read. I think not!

USDA recommendation:

The following are the USDA recommended daily allowances based on a 2,000 calorie a day diet.

Nutrient	Unit of Measure	Recommended Daily Amount
Total Fat	grams (g)	65
Saturated Fat	grams (g)	20
Cholesterol	milligrams (mg)	300
Sodium	milligrams (mg)	2400
Potassium	milligrams (mg)	3500
Carbohydrate	grams (g)	300
Fiber	grams (g)	25
Protein	grams (g)	50

Remember: the nutritional information was put on the label for your protection and safety, but it doesn’t do any good if you don’t use it.

Not bothering to read these labels is like women not bothering to vote after all the hardships our grandmothers went through to secure that right for us.