Energy/Calories

Calories measured in kcals (kilocalories) and kilojoules (kj). In a food, calories can come from fat, protein, or carbohydrate. Your recommended daily guidelines will specify how many calories you should consume. If you eat more calories than your body uses, you will gain weight.

Protein

Shown in grams, good sources of dietary protein are meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk and milk products. The advantages of nutrients from these sources should be considered against undesirable fat content, and potential lack of carbohydrates and dietary fiber. Choose lean, low-fat, or fat free sources.

Carbohydrates

Fiber and sugar are types of carbohydrates. The best sources of carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables, beans and whole-grain foods like cereals, breads, pasta, and brown rice.

Total carbohydrates sometimes further list the carbohydrates from sugar separately. This measure will not distinguish between naturally occurring sugars and added sugar.

Fat

Fat is an important nutrient your body uses for growth and development. Our bodies need some fat every day. Although eating too much fat can lead to obesity and health problems.

A good rule of thumb is to limit your total fat intake to about 30% of calories. For every 100 calories in a serving, food should have less than 3 grams of fat.

Fiber/Fibre

Fiber helps keep your digestive system healthy and help reduce cholesterol levels. A food is considered a source of fiber if it contains 3 g or more. If it contains 6 g or more then it is a good source of fiber.

Sodium

Sodium is a component of salt. A gram of sodium is equal to 2.5 g of salt. Sodium adds flavour and helps preserve foods consequently processed, packaged and canned foods contain more than fresh foods.

Vitamins and Minerals

Choose foods high in a variety of vitamins and minerals. They help promote good health and may protect you from disease.

If we make our decisions about our food choices based on what foods contain – and sometimes what they don’t contain – food labels can help us make healthier choices.

Information on Food Labels

Food labels generally have the following information:

• Name of the food or description
• Ingredients – listed from highest weight to lowest
• Nutritional values – energy/calories, protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, sodium, vitamins and minerals
• Weight of the food
• How long the food can be kept – a “use-by” or “best-before” date
• How to store the food
• How to prepare and cook it
• Additional information such as suitability for dietary restrictions, such as vegetarians, or food allergies or intolerances, such as nuts
• Daily guideline amounts

Ingredient Lists

The list reveals the presence of ingredients, the order of ingredients by weight, and can alert you to ingredients you might be allergic to.

When an ingredient is listed first, second, or third, the food probably contains a lot of it. Ingredients mentioned at the end of the list will be contained in the food in smaller amounts.

With this in mind, choose foods that list healthy ingredients first and less healthy ingredients last. For instance, if you were looking for a whole wheat bread, choose one that has whole wheat flour listed first. Limit foods that mention sugar in the first few ingredients. And check the kinds of fat, sources of salt/sodium, and the enrichment of vitamins or minerals.

Serving Size

Always look at the value that the nutritional information is based on. It is usually not based on the contents of the container and portion sizes can vary.

Another way to use serving size is to help you understand how much you are eating. For instance, if a serving size is 6 crackers and you ate 12 then you’ve eaten two portions.

Nutrients

This section lists the amount of each nutrient in the food. For an explanation on what to look for, read our article on Understanding Nutrition Facts on Food Labels.

Product Claims

Nutrition claims used on food packages may point out a key nutrition feature of the food. These claims are defined and regulated by the government but can appear misleading.

For a more complete picture, be sure to look not only at the “whole grains” wording on the packaging but also the ingredient list, fat levels and sugar levels.

Who Decides What is On Our Food Labels?

Food labels are governed by the laws where you live.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (DFA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulate the information on food labels and claims made by companies. In the United Kingdom, the Food Standards Agency regulates foods labels and uses a standard format set by a European Directive. Nutrition claims are approved under the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation. Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have the regulatory role in Canada.

Examples of Labels

Eat Well Label (United Kingdom)
FDA Nutrition Facts Label (PDF format) (United States)

It not only explains the reasons for adding whole grains to our diet but also provides an understanding of how much we need to get those important health benefits. We particularly like the Physicians’ Heath Study which revealed that eating whole-grain breakfast cereals, seven or more times per week, is associated with a lower risk of heart failure.

• 28 percent for those who ate whole grains seven times a week
• 22 percent for those who ate whole grains two to six times a week
• 14 percent for those who ate whole grains once a week

It further explains that breakfast cereals should contain at least 25 percent oat or bran to be classified as whole-grain cereals.

Does Your Breakfast Cereal Measure Up?

A recent survey by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) found that 9 out of 10 parents questioned misunderstood nutrition labels. The research was carried out on 1454 parents aged between 16-64 years old with kids aged 15 or under through an online survey.

The survey found 76% of parents questioned believed that seeing “wholegrain” on the food label meant that the product was likely to be healthy. Using Nestle’s Honey Shreddies, who claims to “keep your heart healthy and maintain a healthy body”, as an example, the BHF uncovered the that an average serving contains more sugar 13.6g than a doughnut 9.2g.

63% of parents thought a healthy choice was Kellogg’s Coco Pops who claims to be “a source of calcium, iron and six vitamins”. The BHF said that every 100g serving was higher in saturated fat and sugar than the average chocolate cake.

Our advice is to check the food labels. And ignore the marketing hype.