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20 January 2024 Vol 4 No 28

Do not be misled by Food Labels

(Click to Read) Do not be fooled by misleading words and claims on labels

Important Nutrition Facts on Label
Expert Speak - Video on “Stay Positive”
Do not be fooled by misleading words
and claims on labels
Busy lifestyles and convenience are pushing more
and more people to choose packaged foods instead
of buying fresh ingredients and cooking your own
meals. This makes it vitally important to understand
and correctly interpret the labels on food packs to
make appropriate food choices. Otherwise, you can
easily be lured into buying processed and packaged
foods which make tall nutritional claims such as
‘fat-free’, ‘enriched with vitamins’ etc. but are not
really healthy.
If you have specific health conditions like
diabetes, obesity etc., carefully look at the
complete label information before selecting foods.
You should always weigh the health claims against
the nutrition information to decide if the food is
healthy or not. We bring you some tips to help
you make better choices.

Do not get fooled by claims on the front of

pack
A good way is to completely ignore claims made on the front of the pack as these are placed specifically
to lure you into buying products by making health claims. Some of these labels are highly misleading. For
example, a breakfast cereal claiming to be ‘whole grain’ is in fact loaded with sugar.

Beware that Sugar can have different

names on labels
Sugar goes by various names many of which you
may not recognize. To avoid accidentally consuming
too much sugar, look for the following names
commonly denoting sugar in the ingredient list:
• Sugar Types: Brown Sugar, Coconut Sugar,
Date Sugar, Invert Sugar, Jaggery, Muscovado
Sugar, Organic Raw Sugar, etc.
• Types of Syrups: Gold syrup, high fructose
corn syrup, honey, agave syrup, malt syrup,
maple syrup, oat syrup, rice bran syrup and
rice syrup, etc.
• Other Added Sugars: Molasses, lactose, corn
sweetener, dextran, malt powder, ethyl maltol,
fructose, fruit juice concentrate, galactose,
glucose, disaccharides, maltodextrin and
maltose, etc.
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• Sugar alcohols: Sugar alcohols are low
calorie sugar substitutes.
Examples are sorbitol, xylitol and
mannitol. Foods that contain sugar
alcohols are not necessarily low in
carbohydrate or calories.
Just because the product claims to be
‘sugar-free’, ‘reduced sugar’, ‘no added
sugar’ or ‘without added sugar’ does not
mean that it is calorie or carbohydrate-
free. Always check the label for total
carbohydrate and calories. The Nutrition
Facts labels on foods are the key to making
wise and healthy food choices. Ignore
advertising hype, tall claims on packages
and always take the time to study the label
nutrition information before buying.

Common Misleading Claims

These are some of the most common
claims made to convince you that the
product is healthy.
• Light/lite: These claims are made to
show that product has less calories or
fat. But check carefully to see if anything such as sugar has been added instead.
• Multigrain: This sounds very healthy but only means that a product contains more than one type of
grain. Check the amount of different grains in ingredient list and if they are refined or whole grains
(preferable).
• Natural: It simply indicates that one or more ingredients is from a natural source (such as
apples, rice etc.).
• Organic: Organic does not necessarily mean that a product is healthy. For example, organic sugar is still
sugar. Organic oil/fat is still fat.
• No added sugar: Some products may be naturally high in sugar. Check nutrition facts for sugar content.
Also, unhealthy sugar substitutes may have been added.
• Low-calorie: Compare with regular version of the product to know what ingredients
have been removed/replaced/added. Read and compare labels carefully when buying.
• Low-fat: This usually means that the fat has been replaced by adding more sugar.
Read the ingredients list carefully.
• Low-carb: Low-carb foods are positioned as healthy. But they are still
processed foods.
• Made with whole grains: The claim can be misleading if whole grains are not in the
first three ingredients as their amount is negligible.
• Gluten-free: This is another recent trend. Gluten-free does not mean healthy. Many
gluten-free foods are highly processed and loaded with unhealthy fats and sugar.
• Fruit-flavoured: The product may not contain any fruit, only chemicals designed to
taste like fruit. These are also called ‘nature identical’ flavours on the label.

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Important Nutrition Facts on Label

Here we tell you in simple terms how to read and understand some of the Nutrition Facts given on the
package label and make wise and healthy food choices to suit your dietary needs.

Serving Size
This is an important parameter when deciding how much of the packaged food you should eat at a time.
Serving sizes listed on packaging may be misleading and unrealistic. Manufacturers often list a smaller
amount than what you would consume in one time. For example, one serving may be half a can of the cold
drink, half or quarter of a chocolate bar, or a single biscuit.
• Check the serving size. It may be given as the number of servings in the pack or weight/volume in g/ml.
• The Nutrition Facts information (calories and nutrients) on the label is generally given for one serving
or per 100g /100ml of product. However, the package may be for a single serving or it can contain more
than one serving or more than 100g or 100ml.
• If you are not careful you may be deceived into thinking that the food has fewer calories and less sugar.
Therefore, look at how many servings (or g/ml) you are actually consuming. This is your portion size
and it is in your control.
• If there are two servings or 200g/200ml in one packet and you eat the whole packet, you have consumed
double the calories and nutrients mentioned in the Nutrition Facts.
• To know the nutritional value of what you are eating, you need to multiply the per serving information
given on the label by the number of servings you consume.

Ingredients
This lists all the ingredients in the food product in order from the largest to smallest amount, by weight.
This means a food is made up of the heaviest amount of the first ingredient and the least amount of the
last ingredient.
• A good tip is to see the first three ingredients as they make up the largest part of what you are eating.
• If these include refined grains, any type of sugar, or hydrogenated oils, avoid buying the product as it
may be unhealthy.
• If the ingredients list is very long, then the product is highly processed.
• It is also important to check if the product contains any allergy-causing ingredients specific to you.
Common allergy-causing ingredients like Soya or milk products are declared on the label.
• Check for presence of food additives such as artificial/permitted flavouring and colours.

Links to our recent issues Expert Speak

1. Save Energy, Money and the Environment In this issue,
2. Exercise Caution while Shopping Online Dr. Prabodh Halde,
3. Grahak Sathi Yuva (December 2023) Head - Regulatory,
4. Chikki is very high in sugar - Restrict your consumption Marico Ltd. talks about
Stay Positive
5. Grahak Sathi Educates and Empowers Consumers Dr. Prabodh Halde

Grahak Sathi is now available in seven languages - English, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali and Tamil.
If you like this e-magazine, issued in the interest of citizens, please forward it to your friends. They can send us their
mail id at grahaksathi@cercindia.org to get the e-magazine FREE. This effort will help make a better world.

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20 January 2024