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Andile Tshuma
Food labels can be very confusing and tricky to understand. Often we don’t have the time to spend trying to work out what they mean and how to use them.
However, a few quick tips can make shopping for healthy food a whole lot easier and quicker and can help you lose weight. Knowing what nutrition information to look for can help you make the best choice for your health and avoid unnecessary saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and kilojoules. Understanding how to read food labels can help you make healthier food choices.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe and Standards Association of Zimbabwe mandates manufacturers to state all the ingredients and quantities in their products.
Almost all packaged food sold has a nutritional value chart which shows the nutritional density of the product and the number of calories and kilojoules each ingredient has and the nutritional value it contains.
Most packaged food and drink must have a nutrition information panel. Exceptions include those in very small packages, some baked products and take-away food.
People who are in the habit of reading food labels are often considered to be fussy eaters or extreme health fanatics. However, it is important for all of us to know what’s in our food.
More people in Bulawayo are becoming health conscious and talk of healthy lifestyle has gained significant momentum. This can be shown by the significant increase in gym subscriptions and the formation of social sporting clubs. Some companies have even gone as far as introducing and promoting workplace wellness policies.
So, if society is running with the health movement, how do you just lift a food item off a shelf and take it home for your family to eat without you even considering what that food contains? What if it contains an allergen that a family member could react to after consumption? Only then would you go to the dust bin to retrieve the empty sachet or packaging and start scrutinising the ingredients chart for the possible culprit ingredient. It should not be so.
The nutrition information panel provides a detailed description of the food or drink. It is useful for comparing products and choosing healthier options.
The nutrition information panel contains information such as serving size and number of servings per package, nutrients within the listed serving size and per 100g, Energy (kilojoules/calories), protein, total fat and saturated fat , total carbohydrates and sugars, sodium (salt), fibre , which however may not always be present, and warning about the presence of food allergens e.g. nuts, gluten, milk, fish and others.
The ingredients list describes what is in the food. Ingredients are listed in order from the most to the least quantity. If fat, sugar or salt are listed within the first three ingredients, consider choosing a different product.
Sugar can be described in many ways so do not be fooled. It can be called brown sugar, concentrated fruit juice, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, golden syrup, sucrose, honey, lactose, maltose, mannitol, maple syrup, molasses, raw sugar or sucrose. All these will be different names but almost all meaning the same thing. Of course some versions may be healthier options than others but it will all be sugar at the end of the day so choose your food wisely.
Food labels can display nutrition claims which may be misleading. The nutrition information panel is the best place to look to decide if the food is a good choice.
Labels on most packaged food must meet strict requirements that include information for people with food allergies, food additive listings and food storage instructions.
If you want to lose weight, it’s best to avoid discretionary foods as they provide few nutrients but plenty of kilojoules. However, it is still possible to include small serves of discretionary foods, eaten occasionally and savoured by eating slowly and enjoying the food with all our senses.
The trick is to choose only the foods or drinks that we really enjoy. Some people have a sweet tooth or love chocolate, others prefer savoury and love a great cheese. Other people really enjoy a wine sipped slowly. All food is not equally special for us. We all have our favourites.
The nutrition information panel can help you decide if a food is really ‘kilojoule worthy’. Beware of foods that look like a single serve, but actually contain several servings in one packet. Once you know the kilojoules in a serve, we can weigh up whether our enjoyment warrants the extra kilojoules.
To lose weight you need to eat and drink fewer kilojoules than our bodies use. The kilojoules can come from one source or a combination of fat, sugars, protein, carbohydrate or alcohol. It’s the overall kilojoule total that matters for weight loss, rather than the source of the kilojoules. However, if fat or sugars are high on the list of ingredients, it is a good reason to check how high the kilojoules are in the amount you would eat.
Sometimes labels will include nutrition content claims like “low fat”, “reduced salt” or “high fibre”. These claims can only be used if the food meets certain criteria. For example, with a ‘good source of calcium’ claim, the food must contain more than a set amount of calcium. While nutrition content claims can generally guide you to healthier choices, it is important to check the claim by looking at the nutrition information panel. For example, products carrying “low fat” claims may not be low in total energy (kilojoules) when compared with similar products.
Some labels also list nutrients in a serve of the product as a percentage of daily nutrient intake. This can be used to compare the nutrients in one serve of the food with what an “average adult” needs. Like nutrition claims, this information can give you a rough guide, but your individual needs, particularly kilojoules, could be quite different.
A lot of food is often nicely packaged and a lot of promises of healthy eating are made on the bold print. However, if you care about your health, it is important to go an extra mile and take a look at the ingredients and nutritional value panels of packaged so that you are always sure of what you are feeding your body.
This is particularly important if you are shopping for baby food or anything to give children. It is also important to teach children to value knowing what is in their food as compared to blindly consuming whatever it sold in a supermarket. However, the best food is always the wholesome meals that you prepare from fresh natural ingredients as you will know exactly what’s in it and in what quantities. – @andile_tshuma
Online Reporter