All Blogs: Food Blog | Healthy Cooking Blog | Diet Blog | Health Blog | Food News Blog

Deceptive food labels: How to know what’s truly healthy

By Brierley Wright, March 5, 2010 - 12:53pm

Brierley asks: Do you read the nutrition facts panel on the food products you buy? What terms do you look for? What's hard to understand?

COMMENTS	POSTED
I look up anything I don't understand. BHA, BHT and propylene glycol I won't let in the house. — Anonymous	12/16/2012 - 8:09pm
I always look at the nutrition facts panel on the back of a product, especially if there is a choice of similar products that I'm interested in purchasing. I look at the calories, sodium and especially the carbs in items and try to choose products with fewer contents in them if that is possible. — cathie.marty	02/14/2012 - 10:30pm
Yes I do read the label and also ingredient list. I usually look at the first five ingredients listed and it is my understanding that they are highest percentage of the product. I could certainly be mistaken so don't take that as a fact. I also look for artificial sweeteners as well as high fructose corn syrup because I am allergic to certain artificial sweeteners and try to stay away from those. I wish that there was a law about identifying genetically modified ingredients and additives. I am becoming more skeptical as I learn more about our food products and leaning towards natural and organic foods. My grandmother lived a long healthy 93 years living and eating mostly what was grown on the farm. Guess we should all learn from the past, good and bad! — Anonymous	02/14/2012 - 10:10pm
I'm disappointed that sodium isn't mentioned in this article. — Anonymous	02/14/2012 - 9:19pm
"And finally, protein is listed as total protein. Chances are, your protein intake is adequate, and I usually don’t suggest tallying it." That is not only startlingly uninformed, but also horrible advice. I suggest the contrary. At the very least the tip should point out that depending on age, sex, goals, current level of activity and one should understand their protein requirements and tally them regularly until they have a general understanding of when and what to eat to meet that requirement. — Anonymous	12/05/2011 - 4:33pm
do sometimes read the nutrition facts panel on the products i purchase, unfortunately i cannot seem to understand added sugars. — Anonymous	11/16/2010 - 6:02pm
more people like you and less doctors would be a healther world — Anonymous	11/10/2010 - 9:46am
if your store has a health food section, what do you call the other part of the store? wake up people, hello could not be better. most food today is killing people. this is very good info for people to look at. — Anonymous	11/10/2010 - 9:44am
I usually read food lables, unfortunately, after I have bought the item and is home. I do, most times, look at the ingredient list at the store and if it seems rather lengthy, I put the item back on the shelf. I have been trying hard to stay away from most pre-packages items like flavored "noodles" and hamburger "mixes" as they hve so many preservatives and artifical flavors. I know I need to be more conscentious of the products I buy for my family. — Anonymous	03/19/2010 - 10:39am
Thanks for the nicely detailed post. I have been getting to be a more heathy eater over the past few years and just really going for the gusto as of late. One thing that I started doing early was reading the nutrition label and more specifically was looking for HFCS. I was trying to cut that out completely while eating thigns with natural sugar or other sweetener (like honey.) Your number 10 item was an eye opener for me though. I had no idea that it was set to a person weighing 166lbs. I am waaaay off in my calculations then. It makes perfect sense, but I was just not thinking about it in that way. Thanks again. — rickzich1996	03/16/2010 - 3:43pm