How to read food labels? Energy value: what to look for on the label.

Now that you are armed with the knowledge of what to strive for and what to avoid, reading food labels correctly is an effective part of your success. The tips I have given in this chapter will make it easier for you to make quick and intelligent food choices in your healthy diet. Here are a few things to look for on food labels.

calories

First and foremost, you should look at the calorie content of any food you eat. Make sure you pay attention to the serving size and the number of servings per package. Calories are always indicated per serving (in Russia more often per 100g of product), and not per whole package. Read the fine print on a small can of ice cream, for example, and you'll find that there are approximately 300 calories per serving, and there are 4 servings per serving, which means that this small can contains approximately 1,200 calories in total. Finding this information can be frustrating and confusing at first, but now that you know how to do it, you'll never miscalculate calories again and can make adjustments to meet your personal calorie intake recommendations. Serving sizes are standardized and measured in familiar units, such as a glass or even a piece, which makes it easier to understand the nutritional information, eventually allowing you to not look at the labels for hours.

Macronutrient Ratio

The next thing you should pay attention to is the ratio of macronutrients. You need to find out how many grams of fats, proteins and carbohydrates a given product contains and make sure you stick to the ideal ratio for your type of metabolism. Again, it's important to keep the serving size and the number of servings per pack in mind, as these variables affect not only calories, but also the amount of macronutrients consumed. Let's take a look at an example of a label together.

Take the label from a box of macaroni and cheese (precooked). IN this case The serving size is 1 cup and there are 4 servings in a box. One serving contains 320 kcal, 160 of which - half - falls on these 9g of fat. What if you eat the whole package? 4 servings would mean 1280 calories, 640 of which would come from 36g of fat. With almost 50% total calories attributable to fats, degree with which this product harms your healthy diet, will depend on your type of metabolism. But in any case, even if you are a fast or balanced oxidizer and need a higher percentage of fat in your diet, your ideal proportion fat is still only 30%, which means that the above mentioned product is too fatty, no matter how you look at it.
Finding the protein and fat content of a food and measuring it against your ideal macronutrient ratio is relatively easy once you understand portion sizes. But calculating the true carbohydrate content of a food can be problematic. This may sound counterintuitive, but don't blindly take the total number of carbs listed on the label - we're only interested in the number of "net" or "influencing" carbs. The concept of net carbs is based on the fact that some carbs affect blood sugar and some don't. Dietary fiber (fiber), considered "non-affected" carbohydrates, our body is not able to absorb, and therefore they do not affect blood sugar levels. In this way, unaffected carbohydrates are subtracted from the total carbohydrates, leaving net carbohydrates (net) in the balance. Let's take a look at a package of whole grain bread as an illustration.

As you can see, the total carbohydrate content is 14g and the fiber content is 3g. After subtracting fiber from total carbs, you're left with 11g of net carbs, the only ones that matter for our purposes.

Many low carb diets like the Kremlin will tell you that sugar alcohols and other similar carbohydrates are also unaffected, but this is not true. Misleadingly named "sugar alcohol", a polyol (high molecular weight alcohol) is neither a sugar nor an alcohol, but an artificially created chemical compound with a molecular structure similar to that of sugar or alcohol. Food companies use it because it sweetens like sugar, but is not considered sugar by the FDA.

Consequently, food companies may declare their product to be low or no sugar. Some companies go so far as to ignore the amount of sugar alcohol in total carbohydrate content, citing that it has little effect on blood sugar levels, when in fact this is not the case at all. The GL values ​​for most commonly used sugar alcohols are, of course, lower than for regular sugars, but they are still significant and affect blood sugar levels. Take, for example, maltitol, a widely used sugar alcohol with a glycemic value of 53, and compare it to corn syrup, natural sugar derived from corn, with a glycemic value between 85 and 92. Of course, the glycemic value of maltitol is lower than that of natural sugar, but it is still not low in any way. Bottom line: Sugar alcohols are powerful carbs and your body will use them for fuel or store them as fat, so you're better off including them in your net carbs. This may look confusing. Take a look at this example.

The packaging of this popular "low-carbohydrate" protein bar claims to contain only 2g of net carbs. But take a closer look: the back label lists a total of 19g carbohydrates, which are distributed as follows: 8g fiber, 8g sugar alcohol and 1g sugar. But the sugar alcohol used in many similar products, is maltitol, which, as you now know, is the influencing carbohydrate. The only carbohydrates in this product that do not affect blood sugar levels are 8g of fiber. So the actual amount of net carbs in this bar would be 11g, which is a little less content net carbs per piece white bread, and certainly not as small as the packaging promises.

And something else about sugar alcohols: they often render laxative effect. There are two reasons for this. First, they are not fully absorbed by the body and tend to retain a lot of water in the intestines, which causes diarrhea. Second, when undigested carbohydrates reach the large intestine, the bacteria living there become wildly active, resulting in bloating and gas.

Food label hints

Here are some points to clear up common misconceptions about food labels.

1. Sugar-free does not mean no carbs. Compare the total carbohydrate content of a sugar-free product with a similar regular product. If there is a significant difference in carbohydrate content between them, it would be preferable to buy a product without sugar. If the difference is small, choose according to your own taste and wallet.

2. "No sugar added" products do not contain any form of sugar added during manufacture or packaging and do not contain any highly sugary ingredients, but they are not "sugar free". Read labels carefully. These foods can still be high in carbs.

3. Fat-free foods can contain more carbs than their regular-fat counterparts and almost the same number of calories. low fat biscuits good to that example. Low fat is not always the best choice. Read labels carefully.

4. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. I had a client who once mentioned that she used around a can of spray I can "t believe it" s not butter (I can't believe it's not butter) daily. As I continued to grab my heart, she was completely taken aback because, as she retorted, the packaging states that the product contains 0 calories and 0g of fat. Remember our little conversation about portion sizes? It is true that there is no fat or calories in one serving of the product, but the serving size listed on the side of the can is "1 puff". The truth is that each serving can have 0.1 kcal or 0.1 g of fat, which manufacturers may well claim as zero content. For a serving, this sounds like nothing, but who only uses one puff? As a result, the jar actually contains 900 kcal and 90g of fat! Yes, advertisers can cheat, so read labels. In the spray I can't believe it's not butter several various oils, which warns you about the falsehood of the statement "0 kcal - 0 fat". Stay careful and informed.

5. Ingredients in the composition are listed in descending order of their representation. If something is at the very bottom of the list, there is essentially not much of it in the product.

Along with acquiring some basic label reading skills, it is important to have some understanding of the meaning of terms and expressions introduced by the FDA and used on all food packages. Want to know the difference between "low fat" and "less fat", "low sodium" and "very low sodium"? Let me shed some light on this question for you.

Most people who follow healthy eating habits look at labels for one reason or another. Whatever the reason, basically consumers look at the label to make the best choice - healthly food good for overall health.

Six points on the label

To better navigate, let's focus on the following 6 categories to help you understand what to look for on the label:

• The nutritional value
• Serving Size
• Calories and calories from fat
• Nutrients
• Daily dose in percent
• Footnote

Below is an example label:

• Nutritional Information: The information on the main or top of the label refers to the nutritional information.
• Serving Size: Names the recommended serving and the number of servings per package, bottle, container, etc.
• Calories and Calories from Fat: Lists the calories in one serving and the calories from fat in one serving.
• Nutrients List nutrients contained in the product, and their percentage in one serving.
• Percentage daily dose (% of daily allowance) contains recommended dietary requirements for each important nutrient.
• Footnote: Footnotes contain dietary information for important nutrients—including fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, etc. Notes are usually on large packages.

The importance of each category on the label

The most important information on the label is the recommended serving size and the number of servings per package. This is the base for all other data, including calories and nutrients.

The calorie content is the second important item to look at on the label because the calorie value refers to the amount of energy a person gets from this product. The number of servings consumed determines the number of calories, so you can calculate the impact on your weight.

Saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol and sodium are substances that should be limited because they increase health risks.

Daily Energy Value (%DV) is also important information as it includes a recommended nutrient intake based on a 2000-2500 calorie diet. However, this does not affect the portion size and calorie content - the factors on which weight loss or weight gain depends.

The footnote is at the bottom of the label and usually reads: "Percentage calculations are based on a 2,000 calorie diet." This phrase must be on all labels.

Nutrient facts are at the top of the label. Here is a list of the nutrients contained in the product and the substances that aid in their absorption.

List of ingredients

The last thing to look at on the label is the list of ingredients. The ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, which means that the first ingredients on the list make up the largest portion of the product. Thus, it is important to make sure that the first few ingredients contain healthy nutrients. An example would be whole wheat, brown rice, fortified flour or White rice. So you can avoid buying harmful products.

Understanding the information on the label

Reading and understanding what to look for on the label is a benefit to all consumers. Possibility to choose products that contain more fiber And whole grain, less cholesterol, calories and carbohydrates, is an important skill. Serving size, number of servings per pack, calories, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals are important for healthy eating. Knowledge is power.

Healthy food and high nutritional value products require discipline. Knowing what to look for on the label makes the decision process easier. Statistics show that serving sizes have greatest influence for weight loss. Why not take some time to evaluate the product before buying? The end result will be a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle.

All kinds of products are bought by all the fair sex without exception, however, oddly enough, not everyone knows how to read labels. But this skill allows you to avoid cluttering the shelves of the refrigerator not only with harmful, but also with too fatty foods, from which you can easily gain excess weight! How to read the labels glued to products, and what can they tell the average consumer?

Implementation dates and expiration dates

These terms are one of the most important indicators that all consumers without exception should pay attention to. Of course, sometimes it can be very difficult to find this information or it is an incomprehensible encryption, and not every buyer is also able to distinguish the expiration date of a product from its expiration date. To avoid annoying misunderstandings, it is best to purchase products that clearly indicate the date of manufacture and expiration date.
If the package says "Best before", it means that the product expires on the date indicated after these words. And if only the shelf life is indicated, then you will have to look on the packaging for the date of manufacture of the product and add the indicated shelf life to it - this approach will allow you to calculate the expiration date. It is important to always remember that food products, the expiration date of which is not limited, does not exist in nature!

Composition of products

It is equally important to learn to understand the composition of products. True, the current Russian legislation requires modern manufacturers quite loyal requirements - the latter are required to indicate only the total energy value and the macronutrients present in the composition, and everything else is solely at their own discretion. In the case of imported products, in most cases they contain more detailed information, for example, the amounts of sugar and fiber present in carbohydrates, and for fats, the amounts of trans fats and unsaturated fats. By the way, trans fats in the composition various products should be avoided as much as possible numerous studies have been shown to have a detrimental effect on of cardio-vascular system. Sometimes labels with imported products contain information about the presence of various minerals with vitamins or even about them. daily rate consumption, which is also very convenient. But among Russian products Unfortunately, few can boast of such details.
Calories and sugar content are not the only things you should pay attention to when choosing food. So, sweeteners contained in many products not only have absolutely no energy value, but can also cause some harm to health.
Another important nuance- Russian legislation does not impose specific requirements on food manufacturers to indicate the components of the composition in descending order, respectively, the ingredients can often be arranged in an arbitrary order. And components, of which there are less than two percent, can not be indicated at all. However, at the same time, each manufacturer is obliged to indicate all components with a protein content without exception (for example, powdered milk), and food colorings, GMOs, all kinds of flavor enhancers and flavors. by the most the best choice will be products with least amount ingredients in the composition.
From purchasing products that contain hydrogenated vegetable oils, fructose or its derivatives, as well as all kinds of sweeteners, it is advisable to refuse in favor of more natural options. And when choosing low fat foods it does not hurt to pay attention to the volume of sugar - usually there is a lot of it in such products. It does not hurt to know that on the labels it is strictly forbidden to refer to various studies or indicate information about medicinal properties one or another component of the composition.

Proteins, fats and carbohydrates

Any label should contain information on the content of proteins, fats and carbohydrates for each 100 g of the product. And if everything is more or less clear with proteins, then you need to be able to figure it out with fats and carbohydrates.
Fats found in foods are divided into unsaturated, saturated and trans fats. In this case, preference should be given to foods rich in unsaturated fats - essential fatty acid, of which they are composed, have an extremely beneficial effect on the body.
As for carbohydrates, perfect products considered to be those that contain a minimum of sugar and a maximum of valuable dietary fiber and slow carbohydrates. Western manufacturers almost always indicate the percentage of fast carbohydrates (that is, sugar) in their products, because this information is very important for people who carefully control the amount of sugar they consume. It is mandatory to indicate the percentage of fiber content, which to a large extent contributes to full digestion and has a beneficial effect on the intestinal microflora.

What does the "E" stand for?

In the composition of almost all food products, you can find the letter "E", which is always adjacent to several numbers. This is what the designation of some components of the composition looks like in accordance with the European labeling system food additives. These additives contribute not only to improving the smell, taste and color of various products, but also allow them to retain their basic properties much longer.
Additives E, the numerical designation of which begins with the number 1, indicate the presence of various dyes in the product. For example, E128 is a red dye, and E123 is a bright red. Preservatives always begin with the number 2, allowing you to increase the shelf life of a particular product, in addition, these additives help to significantly slow down the appearance of mold or fungus (for example, the designation E240 hides formaldehyde banned in the Russian Federation). If the first digit in the digital code is 3, this indicates that the product contains acidity regulators and antioxidants that help keep the product fresh much longer, and codes starting with the number 4 imply the presence of thickeners, emulsifiers and stabilizers in the composition that help maintain the required consistency of products (these include gelatin, starch, etc.). Number 5 starts with emulsifiers, which make it possible to keep the structure of the product attractive to the consumer for a longer time, with number 6 - aroma and taste enhancers, and with number 9 - sweeteners, flour improvers and glazing agents.
Many consumers, when they see the letter “E” in the composition, immediately think that the product they have chosen contains additives that are very unhealthy, but this is not entirely true - there are also neutral or even useful supplements denoted by the same letter. With the help of the letter "E" they also denote some natural ingredients: chlorophyll is hidden behind the designation E140, paprika behind the designation E160, etc.
Only the following additives should alert the buyer: additives E103, 105, 121, 123, 130, 152, 330 and 447 can provoke the occurrence of malignant tumors, E171, 173, 330 and 22 - diseases of the kidneys and liver, E230, 231, 239, 311 and 313 - allergic reactions, and E221, 226, 338, 341, 462 and 66 - various ailments of the gastrointestinal tract. It is still better to refuse to purchase products containing these additives.

Manufacturers contact details

In accordance with Russian legislation, without exception, all food manufacturers are required to clearly label their company name, as well as their contact phone number and address, that is, any consumer should be able to contact the manufacturer if such a need arises. If the product is imported, then it must certainly be provided with an appropriate sticker in Russian, in addition, it must indicate the country of origin and all the necessary contact details of the importer.
In the event that the label is reprinted over the original text, and also re-glued or erased, it is better to look for another product with a label that meets all the necessary requirements.
The ability to read labels is a very important and valuable skill, because it helps not only to avoid buying low-quality or hazardous products but also to preserve health or even life.

Preview photo: ginasanders/Rusmediabank.ru

Calories, fats, carbohydrates, low calorie diet, protein diet, low fat, good for the stomach, millions of searches on the Internet “how to lose weight” ... It seems that the world has just gone crazy.

Fats - no, carbohydrates - no. If you want to eat - buy yourself a calculator! And count calories. What for?

Calories calorie strife

The girl shares her misfortune: Sat on 1,200 calories a day. I read on the Internet that you need to drastically reduce calories. I switched to 800 calories. Gained 2 kg. What's happened?
Let's figure it out.

Let's start with the calorie content of products. Where do you get your calorie data from? Written on the packaging, taken from the Internet, etc. Let's not talk about the Internet (go into the wilds and analyze the search results - the same product on different sites has different calorie content), and look at the packaging. How did these numbers get on the beautiful boxes?

Do you think that the manufacturer checks each batch of goods released for caloric content and composition? IN best case this was done once during the certification of goods. At worst, all the data is taken from the same Internet for a “similar” product.

The experts found that real calorie content differs from the declared one and this difference, on average, is 30% in one direction or another. This is on average. And it can be vastly different. Two identical chickens on the counter from different manufacturers differ not only in packaging: they were fed differently, they were vaccinated (and no one weighed the doses on electronic scales), they lived in different conditions. And then, they are just like people - under the same "average" conditions, there are thin people, and there are full ones. Etc.
No two chickens can have the same calorie content.

This is a chicken. And if it's sausage or dumplings? The packaging says meat, but in fact there is no meat.
And the fish. Where did you live: in the sea or in an aquarium? Calorie content can vary significantly.
And what can be the calorie content on the label or on the Internet?

You can find out exactly the energy value of a particular product only in the laboratory. Everything else is plus / minutes, or even multiply / divide.

This is one side of the coin.

And there is also digestibility.. It is individual for each person. And it's different for every product. So it turns out that this piece has the declared calorie content - 100, the real one - 200, and the body has absorbed 120.

And then, if you focus only on calorie content, 100 g of sweets and 1 kg of apples have the same calorie content. Why candy will go into fat, but apples are good? Because the composition of the product more important than calories and a 600 calorie meal can be significantly healthier than a 100 calorie meal.

Now back to the poor experimenter. Why did she get overweight instead of losing weight?

Let's take the reference data: for a young woman of average height, the basic need is 1,200 - 1,300 kcal. Taking into account physical activity this figure rises to 1,500. With such a calorie content, the weight will be stable or the woman will lose weight (slightly).

If our young lady decides to “go on” a diet with a calorie content of 800, then the body will react in the first days by losing kilograms. And then the power saving mechanism will turn on. And the main thing in this process will be the so-called low T3 syndrome. In this state, there is a change in the metabolism of thyroid hormones. The result is a sharp decrease in the body's need for energy.

And when the body is in this state, then any "extra" 100 calories that enter the body do not turn into energy for the same organism, but into fat. Bad hungry times have come and the body will put all the “extra” in the bins. And even when you return to your standard diet, for some time the “excess” will turn into fat. And this will no longer be 100 calories, but 50% of what the body will receive. Then everything returns to normal, but the fat on the sides will remain.

And another popular fun is the protein diet. Carbohydrates and fats are bad. If you reduce their number to a minimum and eat one protein, then weight loss will immediately begin. calories plus protein.

The thing is that our body does not need calories every day, but full-fledged food: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, etc. With a protein diet and a carbohydrate deficiency, the body begins to extract carbohydrates from protein. How can this be? The body knows nothing about proteins and carbohydrates. Occurs in the body chemical reaction, which should result in what the body needs. There is no carbohydrate raw material - the body will extract it from what is.

But what about bad fats? And bad fats are necessary for the life of the body. For example, if a man does not have in his diet enough fat (at least 12%), then he does not have testosterone, which (in general) makes him a man. But in general modern man You need about 30% fat in your diet. But these are trifles. Fats also perform more important functions than the production of testosterone, but this is not the topic of this article.

An imbalance in the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates can lead to such diseases, God forbid.

Therefore, calories are good, but it is not as important as the nutritional value product.

Summarize:

• calories on labels show a very conditional energy value;
• the digestibility of the body always reduces the declared calorie content;
• a sharp decrease in the energy value of the diet leads to obesity;
• the composition of the product is more important than its calorie content

I hope that this information will be useful for you, and it will be especially useful for lovers of various exotic diets. First you need to know, then you need to think, and only then do.

Food manufacturers use a hopelessly outdated calorie calculation method, unwittingly deceiving customers, American scientists made such a statement.

The calorie information on food labels helps many people make their grocery shopping choices. However, these data, experts from Harvard University warn, although relatively accurate, can be misleading. They explain such a “deception” by the fact that the method of calculating the energy value, invented by the American chemist Wilbur Atwater back in the 19th century, does not take into account modern ways product processing. For example, vegetable puree gives a person more calories than vegetables in in kind because on digestion liquid food the body uses less energy. According to the researchers, the existing method gives the wrong result in every second case, and therefore the calorie values ​​​​on the labels of many products are underestimated. By the way, some experts believe that when calculating the calorie content of your diet, you can safely add another 25% to the figure indicated on the label - taking into account modern food technology. One recent study found that processed foods like breakfast cereal have more calories than advertised.

Maria OVSYANNIKOVA, Candidate of Medical Sciences, First Category Physician, Chief Specialist of the Medical Department of the LEOVIT nutrio company:

- This statement from the point of view of modern science looks a little funny and at the same time it is not without meaning. After all, the calorie content of foods does not depend on the number of calories expended by the body on the digestion of food. Calculating the calorie content of products is a laborious process that requires the use of complex formulas that take into account the type of processing the product has undergone. calories ready meal or individual product nutrition depends on the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates included in it. So, 1 gram of protein and carbohydrates gives about 4 kcal each, and fat - 9 kcal. But, according to the latest scientific data, some scientists believe that fiber is also inherent in calories - each gram contains about 2 kcal. And in some countries they began to put on the packaging of products and data on the content and calorie content of fiber, so really caloric content finished product on the packaging may be slightly lower. But this error is minimal and in the worst case is no more than 40 kcal per 100 grams of product, which is almost 2 times less than the calorie content of one unsweetened apple. Read food labels carefully and be healthy!