The Nutrition Facts Label: What You’re Eating May Surprise You
The nutrition facts label discloses all of a food’s ingredients and tells us exactly what we’re consuming.
Some foods we consume are nutritious while others are harmful.
These food labels give us the information needed to compare the nutritional content of foods and calories based on one serving and not an entire container.
Let’s look at the importance of the nutrition facts label.
ALLERGENS
People with allergic reactions to various ingredients must read food labels. However small the amount of an ingredient used in food, it must be fully disclosed on the food label.
Primary allergens include tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, milk, eggs, soybeans, fish, and shellfish.
These allergens may cause severe illness if consumed. Even if foods don’t contain allergens, they may be produced in the same facility where allergens, such as nuts, may come into contact with these foods.
In these cases, labels must say ‘may contain’ to indicate that traces of an allergen may exist.
Food labels must also disclose ingredients that pose a health risk, such as unpasteurized dairy items, guarana, quinine, royal jelly, or aspartame (“Food Labels,” 2018).
NUTRITIONAL INGREDIENTS
Foods higher in vitamins, dietary fiber, whole grain, and protein are necessary for optimal health (“Reading Food Labels – How Does it Help Buy Healthier Foods,” 2012).
Food labels disclose the serving size and calories in these ingredients.
Consumers see ingredients they may need if following a special diet (“Why Is Reading Food Labels Important?” 2019).
Essential nutrients also include vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, potassium and iron (“Why You Should Read Food Labels Carefully,” 2014).
Consuming 20% or more of these nutrients is beneficial (“Facts & Benefits of Reading a Nutrition Label,” 2014).
NON-NUTRITIONAL INGREDIENTS
People with health conditions such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure should limit certain ingredients, which aggravate those conditions. Healthy people should also limit unhealthy ingredients that in large quantities may cause diseases.
Food labels can help people limit cholesterol, added sugars, sodium, carbohydrates, and total fats including trans fats and saturated fats. Excessive sodium can raise blood pressure.
High consumption of added sugars may cause overeating and weight gain.
Eliminating trans fat is critical because trans fat increases bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol.
Which can cause heart disease and cardiovascular damage (“Why You Should Read Food Labels Carefully,” 2014).
Comparing and selecting foods with lower amounts of unhealthy ingredients is critical (“Reading Food Labels – How Does it Help Buy Healthier Foods,” 2012).
Foods with a long list of ingredients are highly processed and unhealthy, such as foods with refined grains, which is a type of sugar or hydrogenated oils (“How to Read Food Labels Without Being Tricked,” 2019).
Consuming 5% or less of these ingredients is safe (“Facts & Benefits of Reading a Nutrition Label,” 2014).
OPTIMAL WEIGHT
People using nutrition facts labels make more informed food choices when trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain by comparing foods and determining which is more nutritious.
In deciding what foods to eat during a diet using food label.
People consume more fiber but less sugar, sodium, carbohydrates, fats including saturated fats and trans fats, cholesterol, and fewer calories than people who don’t use nutrition labels.
Nutrition labels help health-conscious individuals choose foods with only a few, simple and naturally-occurring.
Healthier ingredients while avoiding heavily-processed foods containing preservatives, additives, and other unnatural ingredients (“Importance of Nutrition Labels,” 2018).
MARKETING TACTICS
‘Low-carb’ is a popular label in processed junk foods and is similar to processed low-fat foods.
The ‘Fortified’ or ‘Enriched‘ label means nutrients, such as vitamin C, were added to say an unhealthy sugar-laden fruit juice.
The ‘Gluten-free’ label means it’s absent of various grains but is still a processed food containing sugars and unhealthy fats. ‘Fruit-flavored’ products have no fruit.
Several processed foods are flavored with chemicals created to taste like fruit. Some products naturally have unhealthy high sugar levels even if they have the ‘No added sugar’ label.
‘Zero trans fat’ labels mean any product with less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving.
‘Low-fat’ labeled products have reduced fat, but the taste is compensated by adding more sugars.
Products labeled ‘Natural’ only mean that the manufacturer at some point used a natural source like a fruit or vegetable.
The ‘Organic‘ label doesn’t mean a product is healthy, such as an organic dessert, which still has sugars (“How to Read Food Labels Without Being Tricked,” 2019).
We’re very health-conscious about what we eat. Food labels help us compare and purchase foods beneficial to our dietary needs.
Food labels give us important information regarding allergens, the amount of nutritional and non-nutritional food content, and nutrients needed for optimal weight loss or maintenance.
However, we should be aware of marketing tactics used to make us purchase unhealthy foods
