Adolescents And Food Labels
What is a "food label"?
A food label is our friend. Every food now has a food label, a white box that tells us what a serving is of that food, how many servings are in that container, and then all the nutrition information that that particular food will provide for you in one serving.
What are the different sections of a food label?
A food label has various sections. The top section is where the nutrition label tells you what a serving is, and how many servings are in the bag or the box or whatever container it's in. The next section under that tells us how many calories that one serving will provide, and then also how many of those total amount of calories, how many of those calories are due to fat. The reason for that is, in general, we want to try to keep our overall calorie allotment to be 3% from fat. Now, if you take the calories from fat and you multiply it by three, and it's more than total calories, then you know that food's a high-fat food. You should probably limit the amount that you have. The next section is the total fat section. And that breaks down all the different types of fats. The new addition this year has been trans fats, which we want to definitely limit, and try actually to eliminate from our diet, because they have been shown to contribute greatly to heart disease. Underneath fat, then, you can look up how many total carbohydrates that the food has, and then within that group, the different types of carbohydrate. Then you have your protein as well. At the very bottom, it lists for you all the different vitamins and minerals in that particular food - or in one serving of that food.
What does "% Daily Value" mean?
Percent daily value is a percentage of two, calories. Basically if you look at total fat and it tells you eleven grams, and then the next aisle over it says 2%, that 2% means that for a person consuming a two, calorie diet, eating one serving of this food will provide 2% daily value of your fat needs for the entire day. So if you are not requiring a two, calorie diet, then these percentages most likely will not pertain to you. What you can use them for will be at the vitamin level. So at the very bottom, you can use to compare two different products. So if one product has 3% calcium, and then the other product has 1% calcium, you definitely want to chose the product that has the 3%, because all in all, we do want to eat and obtain as many vitamins and minerals as we can.
