Understanding nutritional claims

Food packages often have claims on them that can be misleading. It’s important to know what each actually means, or doesn't mean. Always check that the claims made about foods are backed up by the information in the nutrition panel.

No Added Sugar

May still contain a lot of natural sugar, eg, fruit juice. Check the carbohydrate content on the label.

Lite or Light

May mean less energy, fat or sugar - it could even refer to the colour, taste or texture of the food. The characteristic that makes the food ‘light’ must be stated on the label.

Low Sodium

Check that anything that says low or reduced sodium is actually <120mg/100g food.

Low Fat or Fat Reduced

Seems like a good choice, as it is lower in fat and energy than the original product, but check the label to see how low: very low-fat foods must contain less than 0.15% fat. Low-fat solid foods must contain less than 3g fat per 100g serve; low-fat liquid foods must contain less than 1.5g fat per 100 ml. Remember, if a food claims to be 90% fat-free, it’s still 10% fat, and it may also contain considerable amounts of sugar.

No Cholesterol or Low Cholesterol

Only foods derived from animals contain cholesterol, so ‘no cholesterol’ or ‘low cholesterol’ claims on foods derived from plants are meaningless, because all plant foods contain virtually no cholesterol.

Heart Foundation Tick

These foods have met the Heart Foundation Tick criteria for healthier food choices within particular food categories. For most Tick foods it is important to meet standards for saturated fat, trans fat, salt and energy; many must also have minimum levels of beneficial nutrients, fibre and calcium. The Tick helps compare similar products at a glance, eg, a Tick breakfast cereal is a healthier choice than one not meeting the Tick standards. To be sure the food has what you want from it, it’s wise to read the nutrition information panel. 

Diet or Low Joule (kJ) or Low Calorie 

Good choice - low in energy. These foods are likely to include artificial sweeteners.
Note: Sugar, fat and salt are often listed in the ingredients as other names .

Compare these

Test 1

1. How many servings in the package of fruit juice?
2. How many servings in the package of fizzy drink?
3. In 100ml, how much sugar is in the: Pure Orange Juice? Fizzy Drink? Diet fizzy drink?
4. Does 'no added sugar' mean that there will be no sugar in the product?

Compare these

Test 2

1. How much fat is in a serve of the standard ice cream?
2. How much is in the 'low fat' product?
3. Which product has more carbohydrate?
4. Which product has more energy?

Answers

Test 1

4, 4, 10.7g, 10.6g, 0g, no, it may be there naturally, eg, from the fruit.

Test 2

 9.3g, 3g, the low fat product, the low fat product.

Original material provided by Diabetes New Zealand. Edited by everybody.