Nutrition labels can help you choose between products, and keep a check on the amount of foods high in fat, salt and added sugars that you're eating.
- Nutrition labels on the back or side of packaging
- Nutrition labels on the front of packaging
- Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs)
- Traffic light colour coding
- Ingredients list
- Shopping tips
These labels usually include information on energy (calories), protein, carbohydrate and fat. They may provide additional information on saturated fat, sugars, sodium, salt and fibre. All nutrition information is provided per 100 grams and sometimes per portion of the food.
An increasing number of supermarkets and food manufacturers repeat information on calories, fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt on more visible labels on the front of packaging.
Nutrition labels can also provide information on how a particular food or drink product fits into your daily diet. You can find out more in the section on Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) below.
You can use nutrition labels to help you choose a more balanced diet. For a balanced diet:
- cut down on fat (especially saturated fat), salt and added sugars
- base your meals on starchy foods such as potatoes, bread, pasta and rice, choosing wholegrain where possible
- eat lots of fruit and vegetables: aim for at least five portions of a variety every day
- include some protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, pulses, milk and dairy foods
Nutrition labels on the back or side of packaging
Nutrition labels are often displayed as a panel or grid on the back or side of packaging. For example the image below shows the nutrition label on a ready meal.
How do I know if a food is high in fat, saturated fat, sugar or salt?
There are guidelines to tell you if a food is high in fat, saturated fat, salt or sugar or not. These are:
Total fat
High: more than 20g of fat per 100g
Low: 3g of fat or less per 100g
Saturated fat
High: more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g
Low: 1.5g of saturated fat or less per 100g
Sugars
High: more than 15g of total sugars per 100g
Low: 5g of total sugars or less per 100g
Salt
High: more than 1.5g of salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium)
Low: 0.3g of salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)
For example, if you are trying to cut down on saturated fat, you should limit your consumption of foods that have more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g.
Some nutrition labels on the back or side of packaging also provide information about Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs). Find out more about GDAs below.
Nutrition labels on the front of packaging
Most of the big supermarkets and many food manufacturers also display nutritional information on the front of pre-packed food. This is very useful when you want to compare different food products at a glance.
- calories
- sugar content
- fat content
- saturated fat content
- salt content
Some front of pack nutrition labels also provide information about Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs). Find out more below.
Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs)
Nutrition labels can also provide information on how a particular food or drink product fits into your daily diet.Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) are guidelines about the approximate amount of particular nutrients and calories required for a healthy diet.
Because individual requirements for calories and nutrients are different for all people, GDAs are not intended as targets. Instead they are intended to give a useful indication of how a particular nutrient or amount of calories fits into your daily diet.
Information on the GDA, and the contribution a nutrient makes towards a GDA (expressed as a percentage) can usually be found on the back or side of packaging. The % GDA can also sometimes be repeated on the front of the pack.
Unless otherwise specified on the packaging, the %GDA values are based on an average size woman doing an average amount of physical activity. For more information on what GDA values are based on, visit the Institute of Grocery Distribution website.
Traffic light colour coding
Some front of pack nutrition labels use red, amber and green (traffic light) colour coding.
- red means high
- amber means medium
- green means low
If you buy a food that has all or mostly green lights, you know straight away that it's a healthier choice. An amber light means neither high nor low, so you can eat foods with all or mostly amber lights most of the time. But a red light means the food is high in fat, saturated fat, salt or sugars and these are the foods we should cut down on. Try to eat these foods less often and in small amounts.
Ingredients list
Most pre-packed food products also have a list of ingredients on the packaging or on an attached label. The ingredients list can also help you work out how healthy the product is.Ingredients are listed in order of weight, so the main ingredients in the packaged food always come first. That means that if the first few ingredients are high-fat ingredients, such as cream, butter or oil, then the food in question is a high-fat food.
Shopping tips
You're standing in the supermarket aisle looking at two similar products, trying to decide which to choose. You want to make the healthier choice but you're in a hurry.If you're buying ready meals, check to see if there’s a nutrition label on the front of the pack, and then see how your choices stack up when it comes to the number of calories and the amount of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt.
If the nutrition labels use traffic light colours, you will often find a mixture of red, amber and greens. So, when you're choosing between similar products, try to go for more greens and ambers, and fewer reds, if you want to make the healthier choice.
But remember that even healthier ready meals may be higher in fat and calories than the home-made equivalent. If you make the meal yourself, you could save money, too.
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