Nutrition labels can look like a whole other language. There are numbers, percentages, abbreviations, chemistry terms, and the list goes on. Here is a quick run down to better your knowledge on the food and drink we consume and how to read a label.
Step 1: Portion size
Labels in Canada are always listed per serving or per container. This means that the values you read on the label are for one portion of that food or drink BUT there may be 3 portions in the whole container. It can be tricky because a can of soda pop will show you the value of that whole can but a bottle of pop will show you the values per 250ml. The total amount in grams or milligrams or milliliters can always be found on the front of the packaging.
Step 2: The 5/20 DV rule
The 5/20 daily value (DV) rule is a great way to very quickly skim over a nutrition label. It means that you can use the values of 5 and 20 as percentages to mark if there is a significant source or low value of something in your food or drink.
Significant: more than 20% DV
Moderate: between 5-20% DV
Low: less than 5% DV
This rule isn’t the be-all and end-all for nutrition but it’s a great way to start to read labels. For example if we see a label that has 15% of your daily value of sodium, we know that you’ll need to watch out for other high sodium foods today.
Step 3: Check the ingredient list
Another Canadian law states that all food is required to list the ingredients used in the food or drink. These lists are always in order from how MUCH of each ingredient is put in first.
Cheerios example: Whole grain oats, Corn starch, Sugar, Salt, Trisodium phosphate, Calcium carbonate, Monoglycerides, Tocopherols
This means that the Cheerios Original cereal has whole grain oats as the primary ingredient by weight. After that, they fill in with corn starch by weight then make it sweet with sugar.
Coke and Pepsi contain: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Colour, Phosphoric Acid, Natural Flavourings Including Caffeine.
The beloved carbonated drink is mostly water by weight and then sugar.
Apples are my favourite product ingredient list to read... “Ingredients: apples”
Happy reading and eating,
Dr. Cole Maranger, DC
Comments