How to read a nutrition label

Making healthy choices isn’t always black and white, writes Grant Jones

It can take a while to get the hang of interpreting food labels and nutrition information panels.

It's usually all there in black and white, but both the nutrition information and ingredients panels are not always top of mind when we choose a food product.

Food labels tell us which nutrients, in what amounts, are in a product, warn us if it contains food allergens, inform us if the food is fresh or out of date and, when necessary, explain how to store, prepare or cook the food we buy.

Panel discussion

The current nutrition information panel is required for many foods and must include energy, protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugars and sodium content.

"It's not make or break on one single nutrient; you really should look at all of them," says dietitian Dr Alan Barclay, spokesman for the Dietitians Association of Australia.

Some foods are exempt from displaying nutrition information panels, such as fresh fruit, meat and vegetables, but most packaged goods should display a panel set by the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. The label should also state where the food was produced and which company has marketed it.

Weight in numbers

Ingredients are always listed from greatest to smallest by how much they weigh - including any added water. For example, in a strawberry yoghurt, the ingredients could be listed as whole milk, concentrated skim milk, sugar, strawberries (9 per cent), gelatine, culture, thickener (1442). You can safely assume whole milk, concentrated skim milk and sugar make up the greatest part of the product.

The 1442 listed is a food additive from the European- based Codex Alimentarius, which uses numbers instead of complex chemicals, compounds or ingredients.

Where there are small amounts of multi-component ingredients (under 5 per cent), labels may list the composite ingredient only, for example, tomato sauce, rather than listing all the ingredients in the sauce. But any additive, such as a preservative, must be listed.

Essential ingredients

Sometimes within an ingredients list, you'll see a percentage in brackets, such as apples (26 per cent).

This lists the proportion of the ingredient included in the product - in this case, how much of your apple pie is apple. This is required when the ingredient has been highlighted in words or in a picture on the labels or an ad.

Nutrition labelling

Some food labels include information on percentages of daily intake (seen as % DI) and nutrition claims.

Use these panels to compare key nutrients such as salt (sodium), sugar, carbo- hydrate and fat, of the food you buy. To compare similar products, check they have the same serving size first. If not, compare the average per 100g column to ensure you are comparing like with like.

If 20g of fat is listed in the per 100g column, this means the product is 20 per cent fat and therefore a high fat food.

"Every food group is different," said Dr Barclay. "There are good and bad things added to the various food categories. So, for example, in bread it is usually salt which is the issue.

"Where as with yoghurt it can either be the fat content of added sugar content."

It's also a good idea to keep an eye on how many serves there are in the pack. If you only eat half the serve, then you will consume half the values shown. Similarly, if you eat two serves, you'll need to double it.

Check claims

Dr Barclay says nutrition claims on labels "only focus on the positive aspects". "If you are looking to lose weight, choosing a lower kilojoule variety is something people should certainly be thinking about primarily," he says.

"There's a good rule of thumb that if there are more than six ingredients or those ingredients are names you can't pronounce, chances are it's a highly processed food and one you are better off without," he says.

Many of these claims are managed through a voluntary code, which meets criteria set by Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

For example, low fat foods are those with 3g of fat or less per 100g, while reduced fat foods contain 25 per cent per cent less fat than the regular product and at least 3g or less fat per 100g.

Low salt foods contain 120mg of sodium or less per 100g.

"There is not one size fits all," Dr Barclay says. "The over- arching issue for most of us is that we carry too much weight, and therefore I would argue that kilojoules is the most useful information for most of us."

Information in this article correct as of 12th November 2013