This archive report was first published on 31 August 2019.
Nutrition Labels: A Key to Healthy Food Choices ¶
By FAITH NDUNGI, Department of Human Nutrition, Egerton University
Published on August 31, 2019
Nutrition information on food labels is a vital tool for consumers to make informed decisions about the food they eat. It enables them to compare the nutritional value of similar products and choose healthy options.
There are two types of nutrition information on food labels: nutrition labelling and nutrition claims. Nutrition labelling involves a systematic way of presenting information about food products, usually in a tabular format with a heading like 'Nutrition information' or 'Nutrition Facts'. It displays the content levels of energy and seven nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and sugars.
Nutrition claims, on the other hand, are eye-catching descriptions found on food packages. They can serve as a quick reference for selected nutrition information, highlighting the content of certain nutrients or describing the physiological function of a nutrient present in the food.
Consumers should understand the real meaning behind each claim. For example, when they come across a claim of 'low sugars', they should know that the product should contain not more than 5g of sugars per 100g/ml of the food.
Many packaged foods have nutrition labels, but some products may not have them due to reasons like difficulty in providing them on very small packages or foods like tea leaves and spices that contain insignificant amounts of energy and specified nutrients.
To read a nutrition label, consumers should identify the serving size and the number of servings that appear on the food package. They should then read the metric amount of each nutrient, check for calories information, and limit their intake of nutrients like fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
On the other hand, consumers should get enough of nutrients like dietary fibre, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, and iron in every diet.
