Read the Label

Food labels can be confusing. Making good choices in the supermarket can be difficult. Following the 3 steps below can help you make the best choices by using the information on product labels.

Step 1: Ingredients List

Ingredients are listed in order by decreasing amount, so the ingredient listed first is present in the largest amount in that food, the last ingredient is present in the smallest amount. If sugars, fats and salt are one of the first ingredients on the list, these products may not be desirable. Sugar, fat and salt are often listed under different names, so it is important to learn to recognise these ingredients, even when they are disguised!

Alternative names for:

Fat	Oil, shortening, tallow, lard, dripping, cream, copha, milk solids, monoglycerides, diglycerides, butter, margarine. Note: creamed, toasted, oven baked and crunchy may indicate added fat
Sugar	Sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, dextrose, lactose, syrup, malt extract, molasses, monosaccharides, disaccharides, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, raw/brown/invert sugar, modified carbohydrate.
Salt	Sodium, rock/onion/celery/garlic/vegetable salt, MSG, meat/yeast extracts, booster, stock cubes, baking soda/powder, sodium bicarbonate.

Step 2: Nutrition Claims

Low Joule or Diet
Indicates a product is low in sugar or fat, and is often artificially sweetened. Usually this indicates a suitable product.
No Added Sugar
No sugar has been added, but the product may contain other sugars e.g. lactose (milk sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar).
Lite or Light
Can be used to describe reduced fat or sugar products, however can also refer to colour, texture or taste. Be careful!
Low Fat and Reduced Fat
Low fat indicates that a food is less than 3% fat (3g per 100g) and is often a good choice. Be careful of reduced fat products – the total fat content of these is only 25% less than the regular products. A product can be reduced fat but not necessarily low fat – check the fat content per 100g.
Cholesterol Free
Must be low in cholesterol (less than 3mg per 100g), however plant foods are often labelled cholesterol free which is misleading as cholesterol only occurs in animal foods. Note also that “cholesterol free” does not necessarily mean low fat, which is more important when trying to lower cholesterol.
Fat Free
Must be no more than 0.15% fat (0.15g per 100g) hence is often a good choice. Be aware of foods claiming to be 90% fat free – this still contains 10% fat!

Whilst the Nutrition Claims can be useful in assisting you to choose appropriate food products, you should not rely on a claim alone. Be sure to check for all the important nutrients in the Nutrition Information Panel.

Step 3: Nutrition Information Panel

The Nutrition Information Panel is a small chart on food packaging which shows the amount of fat, sugar, carbohydrate, fibre, salt (sodium), vitamins, minerals and energy contained in the food. By looking at the amount of these nutrients in 100g, it is possible to know the percentage from fat, sugar etc. It also allows a comparison between different brands or types of products.

Always look in the per 100g (or 100ml) column. This allows you to compare different products.

The serve size given indicates a standard serve size, you could compare this with your own serve size.

NUTRITION INFORMATION
Servings per package: 24 Serving size: 25g
	Per serve	per 100g
Energy Protein Fat - Saturated Carbohydrate - Total - Sugars Sodium Potassium Dietary Fibre	348kj 83cal 3.2g 5.3g 0.4g 6.1g 0.6g 256mg 57mg 1.45mg	1390kj 332 cal 12.8 21.2g 1.6g 24.4g 2.4g 1020mg 228mg 5.8g

Carbohydrate and Sugars

Total carbohydrate indicates both sugar and starch. Sugar indicates how much of the total carbohydrate is sugar, including both naturally occuring and added sugar.

Remember it is total carbohydrate that affects blood glucose levels, not just sugar. By having suitable serve sizes of high fibre carbohydrate foods you will have better diabetes management.

Fat

Total fat indicates the total amount of fat in the product. Saturated fat is considered an undesirable type of fat and should be limited. Poly and monounsaturated fats are favourable types of fat and should be included in small amounts.

Look for products with less than 5-10g total fat per 100g (less than 2 g per 100g for milk and yoghurts).

Fibre

Choose and compare products with a higher fibre content per 100g.

More than 3g per 100g is high fibre. More than 6g per 100g is very high fibre and an excellent choice.

Salt (sodium)

Where possible choose reduced salt or no added salt products.
Good choices have less than 400mg sodium per 100g.
Excellent choices have less than 120mg sodium per 100g.