How to Read Food Labels

By Stacy Simon Eating a nutritious diet is key to good health. So it’s important to know what’s in the foods you buy at the store. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that food companies provide certain information in Nutrition Facts labels – those labels printed on food packages. Here’s a guide to help you understand what the information on the label means: Serving Size The serving size tells you how many cups or pieces of food you are expected to eat, and how many servings are in each container of food. The number of calories and all the nutrient amounts are for each serving size, not necessarily for the whole package. That means if a can of soup has 2 servings and you eat the whole can, you’re getting twice as many calories and twice as many nutrients as it says on the label. Calories Eating too many calories a day is linked to overweight and obesity, which raises your risk for cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Eating foods with fewer calories can help you control your weight. According to the FDA: 40 calories per serving is considered low, 100 calories is moderate, and 400 calories or more is high. Nutrients Nutrients are substances in food that children’s bodies need to grow and all our bodies need to work right. Americans tend to get too much of some nutrients, and not enough of others. On the Nutrition Facts label, the first nutrients listed are the ones we should try to eat less of. They are: fat, saturated fat, tr...
Source: American Cancer Society :: News and Features - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Diet/Exercise/Weight Source Type: news