Welcome to the world of grocery shopping! As you walk through the aisles, you're bombarded with countless products adorned with flashy packaging and buzzwords like "all-natural," "low-fat," and "organic." But have you ever stopped to read the small print on the back of those packages? That's right – we're talking about nutrition labels. These seemingly simple boxes can hold a wealth of information about what we're putting into our bodies. So, let's roll up our sleeves and decode a nutrition label together – because being an informed consumer is always in style.
There are 4 important essential questions that a Nutrition label should answer.
- How many calories in your food or how many calories in one serving of food
- what is the nutrition content in food, macro: Carbs, Protein and Fat as well as Micro: Vitamins and Minerals
- Is there any sugar, nowadays mostly in hidden forms!
- Gives you a clear picture of the contents of the food items.
FSSAI Mandates packaged food to have nutrition labels back of the pack. They are to be tested in government regulated labs to keep them standardised.
What is Serving size
In India, food labels don’t always break down information based on serving size but it is better if the information is provided for one serving, meaning the amount of food, to be eaten at one time. For eg : 25g of thins is 3 thins, which can be eaten at one time.
Calories
This value refers to the amount of energy one serving of this food is giving you. A food can be classified as low-cal if it’s less than 40 calories/serving, and calorie-free if it contains less than 5 calories/serving.
Macro and micronutrients
Calories are divided into macronutrients (fats, carbs, proteins) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Look out for the quantity in grams, as well the % daily value as well, which tells you how much this food contributes to your daily requirement of nutrients.
Carbs
This comprises fibre, natural sugar and added sugar. Limit added sugar consumption to less than 5-6 tsp per day (or 20-25g).
Protein
This specific nutrients is listed because the population does not get enough of these – by listing them, a conscious effort can be made to include more of the foods rich in these nutrients. Prolicious has ensured that all products contain min. 20% of protein in the product. So this particular product contains 30g of Protein in 100g which makes it a high protein food.
Fat
We have shamed “fat” for a long time, but its actually an important micronutrient!
Broken down here into saturated fats (too much of these can adversely impact heart health); but also no trans fats (which is a good thing). Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are good for you, and a necessary part of a balanced diet. Limit saturated fats to less than 10% of your total fat requirement for the day.
Nutrients
The daily value for fiber is set at 28g, and it’s suggested we should get at least this much to maintain good health. This product contains 9g of fiber/100g which makes it a high fiber product.
If a nutrient gives you less than 5% of your daily requirement, it’s considered to be low in that nutrient. A nutrient that has more than 20% of your daily requirement, the food is high in that nutrient.
Decoding a nutrition label can be overwhelming, but it is an important part of understanding the food we are eating. With this guide, you have the knowledge and tools to understand what each section of a nutrition label means and how it applies to your diet. Being informed about what we put into our bodies will help us make healthier choices and lead us towards better health overall. So next time you're at the supermarket, take some time to read through those labels!
About the Author:
Faheela Sarang
MSc. Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics
A food enthusiast by nature & food educator by profession. She is an advocate for Nutrition awareness. She strongly believes in making small sustainable changes in lives which go a long way in adopting an overall healthy lifestyle.
