Ranjana Gyanchandani, a Delhi-based educationist and mother to an eight-year-old, is always particular about reading the food labels before picking up any of the packaged food items. She is wary of misleading labels.
It began when she observed that the wheat bread she was buying had only 50 percent of wheat, and the digestive biscuits which she thought were healthy contained about 3-5 grams of fat per biscuit.
“I stopped buying peanut butter off the shelf when I carefully read the food labels and found that most of them were loaded with sugar, contained palm oil and weren’t heart-healthy,” explains Gyanchandani.
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Food labels: How to read them right
Unfortunately, most of us are not as cautious as Gyanchandani, and often end up picking food items loaded with ingredients like added sugars and unhealthy fats, as everyone can’t decipher the misleading labels.
“The labels of most packaged foods, especially the ones claiming health benefits, should be read carefully as they can mislead you into consuming unhealthy ingredients,” explains Mumbai-based nutritionist Nidhi Joshi.
According to Bengaluru-based dietitian Sangeeta Bhatt, food packaging can sometimes be deceptive, manipulating people into buying processed and unhealthy food products. It is therefore important to check the nutrition labels, which are often found to be misleading.
Multiple avatars of sugar on food labels
Bhatt explains that sugar content on food labels can have healthy-sounding names like date sugar, malt syrup, maple syrup, honey, jaggery, etc. According to her, some major clues of an ingredient being an added sugar include:
- It has syrup (examples: corn syrup, rice syrup, etc.)
- The word ends in ‘ose’ (examples: fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, dextrose, etc.)
- ‘Sugar’ is in the name (examples: raw sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, confectionary sugar, etc.)
Packaged flavoured milk, yogurt or other health drinks can have more added sugar than the recommended limit. “Condiments like ketchup, mayonnaise, soy sauce or salad dressings have added sugars and sodium,” explains Bhatt. Other examples of added sugar include fruit nectars, concentrates of juices, agave (sugar or syrup made from spiky succulents) and molasses.
Terms to look out for on food labels
According to experts, some common terms on nutrition labels that people should look out for include:
- Fortified: Health experts caution that products labelled as ‘fortified’ doesn’t mean it’s healthy. “Fortified foods are usually highly processed and are often high in sugar, fat and sodium,” explains Bhatt. Excessive consumption of fortified vitamins can cause a condition called hypervitaminosis. For instance, excess of vitamin A can cause low bone density and a higher risk of liver damage. “Fortified foods can be one part of the overall diet, and the rest of the nutrients should come from natural unprocessed foods,” adds Bhatt.
- Multigrain: This could just mean that the food contains different types of refined grains, which doesn’t make it a healthy option. It’s better to opt for 100 percent whole grains.
- Light or Lite: Bhatt explains that the term ‘light’ or ‘lite’ does not necessarily mean that the food is low in fat or calories. It may also refer to texture, colour or taste of the food being lighter or milder.
- Zero trans-fat: Recommend limit of trans-fat is less than 2.2 grams per day for a 2,000-calorie diet. Zero trans-fat means there is still less than 0.5 grams of trans-fat per serving in the packaged item.
- Fat-free: A product may say ‘80 percent fat-free’, but the consumers need to remember that it still has 20 percent of fat, which is not a small amount.
- No added sugar: No added sugar means sugar is not added. However, the food may already contain natural sugar.
- Added Sugar: It is the quantity of sugar added while the food is being processed. This could include dextrose, sucrose, concentrated fructose, sugar syrups or honey.
- Baked and not fried: This might sound healthier, but one should always check the fat content. One gram of fat has around nine calories.
- Organic: A product is certified as organic only if 95 percent of ingredients in it are organically produced (excluding water and salt).
- Low fat: Foods with low fat content could still have hydrogenated fat, which is unhealthy for your heart.
Takeaways
- Reading food labels can be tricky. However, going through them carefully can help consumers make the right choice.
- It is important to understand the tricky or alternative names as well as the quantity of unhealthy ingredients. If the label states a higher amount of refined grains, processed sugar, sodium or hydrogenated oils than the recommended limit, it is advised not to include the product in your daily diet.
