How to Understand Nutrition Facts Labels for Better Blood Sugars

Have you ever looked at a product’s nutrition facts label and had absolutely no clue what it’s saying?

You’re not alone. 

Nutrition facts labels do contain very useful information and tell us what ingredients are found in the food product. But, as useful as nutrition facts labels are, they don’t come with instructions and most people aren’t sure what things mean or how to use them.

Types of Nutrition Facts Labels

There are different nutrition labels for different regions of the globe, as they all have different standards. If you’ve ever travelled outside of your region and checked the food labels in the supermarket, they might be gibberish to you.

Some regions do not have any regulations about the nutrition facts labels that need to be products. For example, in the Caribbean, you’ll find a combination of all different types of Nutrition Facts labels, and in different languages. 

I’m going to break down the North American labels, and the general theme applies to the other labels despite their completely different looks.

Elements of Nutrition Facts Labels

At the top of every nutrition label, you’ll find a serving size and the number of servings per package.

This serving size does not dictate the amount you are allowed to eat.

It simply provides you with the nutritional content for a typical serving size, a reference point for product comparison, and any other calculations you might need to do.

The nutrition facts labels list the amount of nutrients and calories found in one serving. Not the amount found within the entire package. Based on the sample label above, there are 37 grams of carbohydrates in one serving (2/3 cups) of the product. But, there are 6 servings in the package. This means there is a total of 222 grams of carbohydrates in the package.

Single-Serve Packages

Serving size a particularly important thing to check out on smaller “snack” sized packages. Generally, for a small bag of chips or nuts, the serving size is one bag/package.

However, this isn’t always the case. 

In some products can be sneaky with their single serve packages. Some brands may have two or more servings in their snack packages. 

Energy

At the top of the nutrition facts label you can find the amount of calories in one serving of a food product. The amount of macronutrients in a product determines its calorie content.

Personally, when shopping, I tend to make my purchase decisions based on macronutrient, micronutrient and ingredient information, and rarely on the energy content of a product.

Macronutrients

Nutrition labels list the amount of fats, proteins and carbohydrates found in the product. The labels also provide a breakdown of these nutrients into some of their components.

When comparing products, I look for the options higher in fibre and lower in trans-fat, total sugars (including added sugars). I will also check on the amount of sodium in the products, just because culturally, I find my diet tends to have quite a bit of sodium in it.

Micronutrients (Vitamins and Minerals)

As you may have already noticed, not all of the vitamins and minerals are listed on nutrition labels. I mean, you might need a microscope if we tried to fit them all on there. Instead, the nutrition facts list the vitamins and minerals that are scarce in the typical North American diet.

Ingredients

That list of funny, unpronounceable words below the nutrition facts label is the list of ingredients in a product. This list is arranged based on the amount of each ingredient in the product recipe. Ingredients are listed from the biggest to smallest amount.

Simply, this means if water is listed before whey protein, there is more water in the recipe for 1 serving than there is whey.

This list of ingredients is very important for anyone with intolerances or allergies. You can use the ingredients list to find out if a product contains ingredients that you may be allergic to. It can also help you decide whether or not the product is right for you.

Takeaway

Despite how complicated they feel at first, nutrition labels are packed with useful information that you can use to make nutrition decisions. And like with anything, practice makes perfect.

At first, I used to feel very overwhelmed with the amount of information when I was comparing products, but now I never pick up a new product without looking at the nutrition facts labels.

You can learn more about nutrition facts labels from Heath Canada’s Website.