From HealthNewsDigest.com
Decoding Nutrition Labels – Part 3
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Aug 2, 2010 - 6:00:00 AM
Limit – Fat, Cholesterol & Sodium
(HealthNewsDigest.com) - This is the group of nutrients you want to eat less of – less fat, less saturated fat, less trans fat, less cholesterol and less sodium. Cutting down on these nutrients reduces your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. Okay, so what are you aiming for when we say less?
For total fat, the nutrition label recommendation is less than 65 grams of total fat daily for those eating 2,000 calories. Many of us eat far less and some of us eat more than this. So how do you individualize this number for yourself? First, you can use the labeling recommendation as a gross benchmark.
But, if you would like to be more specific, most health experts feel we should be eating no more than 30% to 35% of our daily calorie intake as fat. If you have a medical condition your doctor may have made another recommendation, perhaps even lower. Regardless, the math is the same.
Step 1: Total calories per day X % fat = fat calories per day
Step 2: Fat calories ÷ 9 = fat grams per day
Using these simple steps you can individualize your daily fat intake.
The recommendation for cholesterol is a little easier. Everyone is encouraged to eat less than 300 milligrams a day. You should know – if a food grows in the ground, it has no cholesterol. If a food has a face – its original source was an animal -- it has cholesterol. Less is best.
Now you can look at the nutrition label for the values from 1 serving of food to see if it is high in fat and cholesterol and decide whether to buy it. Eating any food, once in a while, is fine. But, regularly eating foods high in fat and cholesterol aren’t healthy choices.
Under the total fat value on the nutrition label you will see values for saturated fat and trans fat. Labeling regulation require that both of these values must be listed. Some manufacturers also include values for monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat, too. So how do you sort out all these fats?
We’ve already dealt with total fat above. Saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans fat all make up a portion of total fat. Each has 9 calories per gram. To find out how many calories are coming from a type of fat, simply multiply the grams times 9. If the food has 15 grams of saturated fat, 135 calories (15 X 9 = 135) are from saturated fat. Within your fat allowance for the day you want to eat more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, less saturated fat, and little or no trans fat.
For sodium, the nutrition label is based on a maximum intake of 2,400 milligrams a day for an adult. Many experts feel 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day for adults with even less for older adults (1,200 milligrams) would be healthier. In fact, most of us would do nicely on as little as 500 milligrams of sodium a day. That may be a healthy level, but would we consider this a tasty level? Giving up salt isn’t easy.
When people are told to eat less sodium, their first reaction is to empty the salt shaker and stop adding salt in cooking. This may not be the most effective approach because 77% of your daily sodium actually comes from processed food, 12% is naturally occurring sodium in foods, and only 11% is salt added in cooking or at the table. Dumping the salt shaker only reduces your salt intake slightly. Cutting down on convenience foods will make a bigger dent in your daily sodium intake. Many food manufacturers are slowly reducing sodium in their brands. These changes need to be made gradually to help us retrain our tastes for less salty foods.
To lighten up on salt check the nutrition label – keep snacks and individual foods under 400 milligrams a serving, and keep main dishes under 600 milligrams a serving. Try some low sodium or “no salt added” choices, you might be surprised at the taste. Plain frozen vegetables are lower in sodium than sauced and seasoned varieties and almost all frozen vegetables are lower in sodium than canned vegetables.
In Part 4 of this series on nutrition labels we’ll be looking at carbohydrate, sugar, fiber and protein. We hope you will come back to learn more.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales in excess of 8 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller.
Current titles include:
The Calorie Counter, 5th Ed., 2010
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2009
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
The Diabetes Carbohydrate and Calorie Counter, 3rd Ed., 2007
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to The Nutrition Experts
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