Health

Ever get confused by all the labels on the food?  Less fat, reduced fat, 25% less fat, less sugar, etc.

So are those really healthy food?  Can you really eat more of those without gaining weight?

Here’s some info on the labels from LifeClinic:

• No fat or fat free: Contains less than 1/2 gram of fat per serving
• Lower or reduced fat: Contains at least 25 percent less per serving than the reference food. (An example might be reduced fat cream cheese, which would have at least 25 percent less fat than original cream cheese.)
• Low fat: Contains less than 3 grams of fat per serving
• Lite: Contains 1/3 the calories or 1/2 the fat per serving of the original version or a similar product
• No calories or calorie free: Contains less than 5 calories per serving
• Low calories: Contains 1/3 the calories of the original version or a similar product
• Sugar free: Contains less than 1/2 gram of sugar per serving
• Reduced sugar: at least 25% less sugar per serving than the reference food
• No preservatives: Contains no preservatives (chemical or natural)
• No preservatives added: Contains no added chemicals to preserve the product. Some of these products may contain natural preservatives
• Low sodium: contains less than 140 mgs of sodium per serving
• No salt or salt free: Contains less than 5 mgs of sodium per serving
• High fiber: 5 g or more per serving (Foods making high-fiber claims must meet the definition for low fat, or the level of total fat must appear next to the high-fiber claim)
• Good source of fiber: 2.5 g to 4.9 g. per serving
• More or added fiber: Contains at least 2.5 g more per serving than the reference food

A lot of those labels are relative to similar products or the original product.  In fact, for dieters, the low fat labels are dangerous.  In an experiment from the FoodNetwork’s Food Detective, when people see the “low fat” label, they tended to eat more than what was labeled as original.

When confused, come back for the food label definition. 

{ 0 comments }