Know the Facts
 |
The Nutrition Facts table gives you information about calories and nutrients for the serving size shown. The calories tell you how much energy you get from one serving shown on the Nutrition Facts table. Thirteen nutrients must be listed: total fat, saturated and trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, fibre, sugars, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron. You will get the amount of calories and nutrients that are listed if you eat the serving size shown at the top of the Nutrition Facts table. |
The Percent Daily Value (DV), located in the right column of the Nutrition Facts table, puts nutrients on a scale from 0% to 100%. This scale tells you if there is a little or a lot of a nutrient in one serving of a food. Choose foods with a low Percent DV of total fat, saturated and trans fat, and sodium. For example, a food with a Percent DV of 5% or less for fat is a low fat choice. Choose foods with a high Percent DV of fibre, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron. For example, a food with a Percent DV of 15% or more for fibre is a high fibre choice. You do not have to add up your Percent DV during the day. Instead, use the Percent DV to compare different foods.
Check the Ingredients
The ingredient list tells you what is in a food. The ingredients are listed in order from greatest weight to least. Therefore the first ingredient in the list is found in the greatest amount. For example, if you are choosing a fruit juice and sugar is listed as the first ingredient, this means there is more sugar than fruit juice in that drink and it is not the healthiest choice. Some words to watch for in the ingredient list are: hydrogenated, shortening, sodium, fructose and sucrose. These ingredients indicate the food contains trans fat, added fat, salt or sugar. The ingredient list is also helpful to identify whether a product contains allergenic ingredients, such as peanuts.
Watch for Nutrition Claims
Nutrition claims highlight features of certain foods that may make those foods a healthy choice. There are two types of nutrition claims: nutrient content claims and health claims. Nutrient content claims tell you about one nutrient such as sodium, fat or fibre. Some examples of these claims are “Sodium free”, “Low in saturated fat” and “Source of fibre”. Health claims tell you how the foods you eat can affect your health. An example of a health claim is “A healthy diet low in saturated and trans fats may reduce the risk of heart disease. This product is free of saturated and trans fats”. Nutrition claims can be helpful to identify healthy foods, but not all healthy products have a nutrition claim.
Resources
|
