How to Read a Nutrition Label
Take it to Go:
- Ignore the front of the food package.
- Scan the first three ingredients on the ingredient list.
- Check the serving size and calculate the amount per serving accordingly.
The other day I found myself standing in the snack aisle for 20 minutes trying to find the perfect fruit snack — one that tastes the best and provides the most nutritional value.
Then I find the holy grail of fruit snacks — Mott’s Assorted Fruit Flavored Snacks. I have found a fruit snack that says “made with real fruit and veggie juice”, “no artificial flavors”, and “excellent source of Vitamin C”. After reading the front of the box, I assume it’s healthy, and I put it into my cart.
Once I got home, I realized I hadn’t even read the nutrition label. 9 grams of added sugar means 18% of the daily value? There’s nothing more gut wrenching than finding out that my newest addition to the pantry has become the newest addition to the garbage because of misleading packaging.
And that is why, I want to share some guidelines on how to make smart choices when encountering foods at the grocery store. Even though this isn’t a complete guide to understanding everything about a packaged product, this serves as a brief overview and includes certain red flags that you should be aware of.
1. Ignore the front of the food package!
Look at this box of Mott’s Assorted Fruit Flavored Snacks. They’ve made it quite clear that….
There are NO colors from artificial sources
- There are NO artificial flavors
- There is NO gelatin or gluten
- Excellent Source of Vitamin C
- 80 calories per pouch
- 0 grams of saturated fat
- 30 mg of sodium, making up 1% of the DV
- 9 g of sugar
The FDA currently does not require manufacturing companies to include nutritional information on the front of food packaging, thus companies have free will to advertise whatever they want. Notice that on the front of the box, the manufacturer chooses to include both the 30 grams of sodium and how it makes up only 1% of the daily value. Then, they choose to include the 9 grams of sugar, but not include the daily value percentage for sugar, which on the back is stated to be 18%. Showing the percent daily value of sodium and deliberately refusing to show the percent daily value of sugar on the front of the box, highlights a major flaw in the government’s way of handling nutrition guidelines. It proves how Mott’s Assorted Fruit Flavored Snacks is just one of thousands of examples of deceptive marketing and without further investigation of the nutrition label, will continue to mislead millions of people everyday.
2. Scan the first three ingredients!
At first glance, after reading that these fruit snacks are made with “real fruit and veggie juice”, I would think that the product is made mostly of fruits and vegetables.
WRONG!
The first couple of ingredients on the ingredient list include “corn syrup”, “sugar”, and “modified corn starch.” The rule of thumb when it comes to ingredient lists is to scan the first three ingredients, since they make up the largest part of what you are eating. This means that the ingredients listed above are the majority of what you are eating. While corn syrup is not as detrimental to your health as high fructose corn syrup, it is still a type of sugary syrup used in several chewy candies. Then, when mixed with more sugar, it becomes a bigger threat to one’s health. I know for a fact that I don’t want to primarily be ingesting corn syrup and sugar, and I’m sure you’d say the same for yourself!
3. Be sure to check the serving size!
It’s always important to look at the serving size of any food product, since the nutrition facts stated on the back are based on only one serving. For example, some products may actually be 2 servings. This means that in order to understand its nutritional value, you have to double every amount per serving. If there was a product with 3 servings, then you must triple every amount per serving and so on.
Don’t be deceived by the size of a food product because several manufacturers try to fool their consumers into believing that their product has fewer calories and less sugar. For example, this King Sized Twix Bar actually has 4servings meaning the whole bar has 440 calories, 20 g of fat, 44 g of sugar, etc, further emphasizing how marketing is used to constantly mislead buyers.
The bottom line is to always be cautious of deceitful manufacturing strategies and to be wary of food labels. It is always important to be mindful of what you’re ingesting and how it can affect your body because as they say… you are what you eat!
