9 Things To Look For On Labels

Nutrition labels can often be confusing and difficult to understand. In Australia, labels on most packaged foods must meet strict requirements, which include nutritional information, ingredients and food additive listings. Beyond that is the marketing spin, so here’s your guide to the key things to look for on your food labels.

- Lisa Holmen

You need to be savvy to make sense of what you read on the nutrition labels of food. Don’t be fooled by clever marketing tactics, and beware of products making nutritional claims such as “fat free” or “no added sugar”; it doesn’t necessarily mean a product is healthy. You need to make sure the claims are backed up by the information in the nutrition panel. Here are some of the common things to look out for to make you feel more confident in what you’re putting in your basket next time you shop.

1 Portion control

Do you struggle with portion control issues? Read the serving size before you dive in. This should give you a guide of how much you should be consuming and help you avoid overeating. Unfortunately, there are no standards for serving sizes, which are determined by the manufacturer so can vary significantly from one product to the next. Many brands intentionally label smaller sizes so nutrition labels make the product seem better. Have you ever seen “just 50 calories” advertised on a bag of chips then realised halfway into eating them there are 10 servings in a packet and you’ve already eaten five? Suddenly the fat content has quickly escalated from 8g to 40g. Ouch! If you need to, just measure out the serving size quickly before you eat.

2 Good fats vs bad fats