I've read a handful of studies that all suggest that roughly 60% of U.S. citizens actually read the nutritional content labels and just 50% check the ingredients when food shopping for new items. This is too low, especially considering that about a third of Americans are at least 35 pounds over a healthy weight. Understanding what ingredients and the nutritional value of those ingredients is paramount in eating healthy.
Have you noticed the ingredients list on a food package has the smallest font in the history of printing? Food industry groups have pushed back against advocacy groups and the FDA, who are trying to increase the size and prominence of this important information. The food industry has a powerful lobby and they would rather you not pay much attention to the healthiness of their food or the chemicals they pump into it. They're much happier if you focus on their huge, bogus marketing claims plastered on the front.
The FDA mandates the use of the nutritional panel on all food packaging. It alerts consumers to macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals in their food. It also provides information on serving size and the percentage each ingredient makes up of the government's recommended daily amount. The first order of business when reading food labels is to make sure the serving sizes are close to the amount you typically eat. If you are going to eat five helpings, those seven grams of fat or 200 calories, then you need to adjust the numbers you're reading.
There are some issues you need to be aware of. First, these percentages only relate to a 2,000 calorie diet. You need to figure out your RDA's based on your own healthy calorie intake, not the average person's intake. Furthermore, the RDA percentage is often mistaken for a breakdown of the content of the food's nutrients. It is not. A product may show a 10% number for fat, but it could be over 60% or more of the food's nutritional value (or lack there of).
While it is not always perfect, eyeballing the number of ingredients on a package can often help you understand how clean and healthy the food is. If you are going to eat processed foods, typically you will find that the healthier items have fewer ingredients. That being said, you actually need to read the ingredients list because longer lists could be all organic while shorter lists could still have dangerous chemicals or unhealthy ingredients. It's also worth paying attention to the order in which ingredients are listed, which always starts with the biggest contributors down to the smallest.
Based on the massive amounts of chemical additives in our food supply, there's a good chance you're not familiar with a wide variety of the ingredients in today's processed foods. I ask two questions when this happens. First, do I need my high school chemistry book? Second, would I use this if I was cooking from scratch? If you answer yes and no, respectively, it's probably best to avoid. I don't think Grandma ever tasted her gumbo or pasta sauce and said, "This could use some sodium benzoate, disodium chloride, and aspartame."
There is often little oversight on food marketing claims on food labels. Furthermore, the definitions of those claims often have significant loopholes and don't necessarily mean what the average person thinks. A no-sugar product can have sugar in it. All natural can have chemically-created ingredients. It pays to take the time to read and understand what is in your food. Your health depends on it, so read your food labels.
Have you noticed the ingredients list on a food package has the smallest font in the history of printing? Food industry groups have pushed back against advocacy groups and the FDA, who are trying to increase the size and prominence of this important information. The food industry has a powerful lobby and they would rather you not pay much attention to the healthiness of their food or the chemicals they pump into it. They're much happier if you focus on their huge, bogus marketing claims plastered on the front.
The FDA mandates the use of the nutritional panel on all food packaging. It alerts consumers to macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals in their food. It also provides information on serving size and the percentage each ingredient makes up of the government's recommended daily amount. The first order of business when reading food labels is to make sure the serving sizes are close to the amount you typically eat. If you are going to eat five helpings, those seven grams of fat or 200 calories, then you need to adjust the numbers you're reading.
There are some issues you need to be aware of. First, these percentages only relate to a 2,000 calorie diet. You need to figure out your RDA's based on your own healthy calorie intake, not the average person's intake. Furthermore, the RDA percentage is often mistaken for a breakdown of the content of the food's nutrients. It is not. A product may show a 10% number for fat, but it could be over 60% or more of the food's nutritional value (or lack there of).
While it is not always perfect, eyeballing the number of ingredients on a package can often help you understand how clean and healthy the food is. If you are going to eat processed foods, typically you will find that the healthier items have fewer ingredients. That being said, you actually need to read the ingredients list because longer lists could be all organic while shorter lists could still have dangerous chemicals or unhealthy ingredients. It's also worth paying attention to the order in which ingredients are listed, which always starts with the biggest contributors down to the smallest.
Based on the massive amounts of chemical additives in our food supply, there's a good chance you're not familiar with a wide variety of the ingredients in today's processed foods. I ask two questions when this happens. First, do I need my high school chemistry book? Second, would I use this if I was cooking from scratch? If you answer yes and no, respectively, it's probably best to avoid. I don't think Grandma ever tasted her gumbo or pasta sauce and said, "This could use some sodium benzoate, disodium chloride, and aspartame."
There is often little oversight on food marketing claims on food labels. Furthermore, the definitions of those claims often have significant loopholes and don't necessarily mean what the average person thinks. A no-sugar product can have sugar in it. All natural can have chemically-created ingredients. It pays to take the time to read and understand what is in your food. Your health depends on it, so read your food labels.
About the Author:
You can learn more at my website Food Labels or my blog at Food additives to avoid
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