Do you find it challenging when it comes to making healthy food choices? Do not worry. The food label is a simple and quick tool to help you make healthy food choices.

Any packaged food has at least two sides the “Front of Pack” and the “Back of Pack”. In the next few steps, we shall see how to read the “Front of Pack” and the “Back of Pack” of the food label.

The “Front of Pack” carries information on name, brand name and picture of the product, logos and claims. What is important for us to see is to look for the vegetarian and non-vegetarian logo that looks like this

The “Front of Pack” may also have a nutrition claim like - Low sugar, Low sodium, Low salt, Trans fat free/Zero trans fats, Cholesterol free/Zero cholesterol/ No cholesterol, Good source of Vitamins, Good source of Minerals.

The nutrition claims may also appear as - Added Vitamin B12, Reduced fat, High in iron and Calcium/ Calcium and iron rich, Source of fiber/High in fiber, Source of protein, High in Vitamin B1,B2,B3,B6, Sugar-free or No added sugar.

Foods with nutrition claims have a nutritional benefit and hence we must prefer these to those that do not carry a claim.

Some packages may carry a claim regarding health benefit that the food offers like - Good for heart, Healthy heart, Reduces the risk of heart diseases. Note that such products should have zero cholesterol, no trans-fat, low saturated fat, low salt or sodium. Where will you find this information? On the “Back of Pack”. So check for zero cholesterol, zero trans fat, low saturated fat, low salt or sodium on the “Nutrition Facts Panel”.

The “Back of Pack” carries a lot of other information besides the Nutrition Facts Panel like - Pack Size, Quality Symbol, Price, Batch No., Manufacturing and Best before date, Manufacturer’s address, Cooking Instructions, Ingredients list and Allergen Information, Added Colors and Flavors Information.

So what all should we read to make a healthy food choice? The - Nutrition Facts Panel, Ingredients list and Allergen Information and Added Colors and Flavors Information.

We must remember that the “nutrients of concern” are Sugar, Fat and Salt/Sodium.

Let us see how the ingredients list helps us in choosing a healthy product.

If ingredients like sugar/ jaggery/ honey/ high fructose corn syrup

OR

Fat/oil/ Shortening/ Hydrogenated oils /Partially Hydrogenated Oils/Butter/Margarine

OR

Salt/monosodium glutamate/ Autolyzed vegetable protein/ Hydrolyzed vegetable protein/ Sodium caseinate appear in 1st, 2nd or 3rd position in the ingredients list then the product is likely to be unhealthy.

The food label also helps you choose foods that are allergen free. You will find a list of allergens present (if they are) right under the ingredients list. Allergen information is given in the following way - Gelatin free, Gluten free, Contains no MSG OR Contains soy, milk, corn, nuts, mustard seeds, eggs, MSG.

Choose food products that have fewer additives like - synthetic/artificial colour, artificial flavor, preservatives, additives that start with “INS”

So “CHOOSE HEALTHY AND STAY HEALTHY”.