LOOK before you BUY!

Next time you go to the store read those food labels carefully and do not be deceived by the big lettering that jumps out at you warns Consultant Dietician Sigrid de Silva

By Smriti Daniel

The next time you visit a supermarket, perhaps you should take along a magnifying glass, a calculator and a portable data bank listing every food additive – otherwise you might be hard pressed to be entirely certain of what you’re actually carrying back home.

Though the food labels on packaged goods are required by law to provide essential information, it’s frequently not in the manufacturer’s best interests to make them clear and easy to understand. It takes a practised, informed eye to see past the jargon, says Consultant Dietician Sigrid de Silva. This month, she shares the essentials of reading a food label and what you need to be on the lookout for.

For obvious reasons, food packages are designed to look appealing. You’ll be surprised by how susceptible you are to colours like red and yellow – used liberally on packages, they entice customers. What you read on the label on the front of the box or bottle is what the manufacturer most wants you to see – hence all the promises of low fat, no cholesterol or low sugar blazoned prominently across them. “All that big, fat lettering jumps right out at us,” says Sigrid, explaining that these can also be deceptive and it’s always important to pay attention to the fine print.

For instance, when a product claims to be sucrose free, it would be wrong to assume that it has no sugars at all – they might still be there but under the name of high-fructose corn syrup. Forms of the latter such as HFCS 90 are actually sweeter than sucrose. When it comes to something dubbed ‘sugar free’ more often than not, it’s a question of switching from sugar to artificial sweeteners. Some of these, such as the controversial aspartame, have been the subject of much debate.

In addition some brands might claim to be selling a diet friendly ‘lite’ version of their calorie rich product. “This doesn’t mean that this type of product won’t cause weight gain,” Sigrid warns. You might think ‘No Sugar Added’ would be the most reassuring of all claims, but here again this could simply mean there’s already plenty of sugar in the product. A juice for instance might have been concentrated so that even if no sugar was added it could still taste very sweet.

Dieters are not the only group likely to be tricked into buying a product. Parents too are often assured that their children will not grow smart, healthy or strong if not given this one food. When it comes to sugar rich drinks and salty snacks, don’t buy into the advertising, says Sigrid, you might even end up doing your child harm.

Some words are immediately appealing – an ‘instant’ food might be easier to prepare, but you must understand that to cook so quickly it has to have been heavily processed, says Sigrid. This is usually not a good thing, taking away from the natural goodness of the food. Speaking of which, ‘natural’ is another one of those words to watch out for, along with ‘new’,‘special,’ ‘better’ and even ‘nutritious’. XYZ food could be labelled nutritious says Sigrid, because it’s high in nutrients, calories and energy. Of course, overindulging is likely to leave you several kg heavier, so it isn’t healthy after all. The trick is always to examine the ingredients list carefully.

Some of the details you’re looking for will be on the reverse of the bottle, box, package, tin; some will be on the lid, stamped on the base, or in the fold, crease. Much of it might be in exceedingly small print. While this might seem too much of a bother to read, it’s what tells you what the contents of the product really are. “You have to really examine the product from top to bottom,” says Sigrid. You’ll usually be able to find the ingredients when you turn a pack over.

It’s worth noting that the ingredients appear in descending order with the ingredients that are present in the highest percentages being listed first.

The longer this list is, the more cautious you ought to be, says Sigrid, explaining that this goes double for when you cannot recognize several ingredients. Often a common name is substituted with something less familiar – a very simple example of which is that ‘sucrose’ is used on the label instead of ‘sugar’ and ‘sodium’ instead of ‘salt,’ says Sigrid, explaining “A lot of people today still look for the word ‘sugar,’ but they may never see it because the label says sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup.” Further up the scale, the controversial additive Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) sometimes goes as ‘yeast extract’ ‘glutamic acid’ and even ‘natural flavours’.

Even more important and perhaps as hard to navigate is the box containing nutrient facts. It’s crucial that you note what size of serving these values apply to – that perfect reasonable sounding amount fat might only apply to a 20gm serving, when you routinely eat a 150gm serving. “The serving size is usually ridiculously small,” says Sigrid. It’s important then to check how many ‘single servings or reality servings’ you’re consuming.

Pay attention to the Percent Daily Value (% DV) as well. It’s supposed to tell you the percentage of the nutrient present in each single serving in terms of your daily requirement for the nutrient. The information shown on these panels are structured for a 2,000 calories a day diet, says Sigrid, pointing out that individuals might need to consume less or more than 2,000 calories depending on their age, sex, gender and activity level. In general, you want to consume less of nutrients like sugar, saturated fat, transfat, cholesterol or sodium. So choose foods with a lower % DV of these – 5% or less is low. If you want to improve your intake of one nutrient, such as fibre, pick foods with a higher % DV – 20% or more is high.

One thing Sigrid does approve of is that the ‘fats’ are not only shown as a total fat value, but subdivided into their different kinds reflecting the fact that not all fats are bad. Saturated fats and trans-fats raise your cholesterol and increase your risk for heart disease but monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats do the opposite.

In the end, “don’t just go by the bold lettering, don’t let that distract you from the ingredients list or the nutrition facts,” says Sigrid. “We need to learn to think before we consume fuel – both food and fluid – to charge and maintain our engine of life. After all, we have only one body to live.”

Credit:  Sunday Times – MediScene http://www.sundaytimes.lk/120422/MediScene/mediscene_3.html