Reading food labels will help you make healthier food choices. The food label is a reliable, accurate, user-friendly source of valuable nutrition information. It provides information on the nutrient content of foods.
Specifically, the food label gives the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for healthy eating goals. The label lists the amount of kilojoules, fat, fibre, and sugar in the food, as well as key nutrients, like cholesterol, calcium, vitamins A and iron, and sodium.
The fat content listed for each food is even broken down into saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fat categories. Knowing this information, people can work toward lowering the total fat in their diets to less than 30 percent of total kilojoule intake, while at the same time selecting the healthiest type of fat, which is monounsaturated fat.
The "Nutrition Facts" label uses standardized portion sizes. It describes foods in commonly consumed amounts, thus making the label easier to use.
The food label also uses adjectives to describe the nutritional value of a certain food per serving. This helps avoid confusion for the following terms:
- "fat free" means the food has less than a half gram of fat per serving
- "low-fat" means less than 3 grams of fat per serving
- "cholesterol free" means less than 2 milligrams
- "low cholesterol" means less than 20 milligrams per serving
- "low sodium" means under 140 milligrams per serving
- "low calorie" means less than 40 calories per serving
- "sugar free" means less than a half gram per serving
- "high" or "rich" means the food contains more than 20 percent of the daily need for a specific nutrient and
- "fortified" means the food provides more than 10 percent of the daily requirement for that nutrient.
Some labels will also contain health claims. ANZFA (Australian New Zealand Food Authority) must approve all health claims. An example of an acceptable claim made on a food label might be for milk: "This product is rich in calcium and eating more calcium can reduce your risk for osteoporosis." Any claim must be based on sound scientific evidence.
Article #6973
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