Decoding food labels

By Poon Chian Hui (in Mind Your Body of the Starits Times, 19 March 2009)

Food labels carry many nutritional claims but not all is as perceived. Still, the ingredient list can provide useful clues to help you make a healthier choice

Low-fat. Sugar-free. Zero trans-fats. No additives. Made with whole grains.
Sounds promising - but do not put that food product in your shopping cart just yet.

Turn over the box and take a closer look at the ingredient list. You just might get a surprise or two.

With the growing number of products making impressive health and nutritional claims, the shopper's job has become increasingly tricky.

What you can do to spot misleading claims is to learn how to read and decipher ingredient lists.

'The ingredient list can be used to identify hidden ingredients,' said Ms Natalie Goh, a consultant dietitian at Peaches & Pear Nutrition Consultancy.

Start by looking out for a few keywords, she said. For example, words like 'hydrogenated' or 'partially hydrogenated' means that the product contains trans-fat which is an unsaturated fat made by the chemical process of hydrogenation (liquid oil is turned into solid fat by the addition of hydrogen).

Studies have shown that trans-fat is linked to a higher risk of heart disease as it increases bad cholesterol in the bloodstream.

'Sodium' is another important word to look out for.

'Ingredients with the chemical name 'sodium' contribute to the overall salt content of the product,' said Ms Goh.

As for hidden sugar, the giveaway words are those ending with the letters -ose.
Sucrose, fructose, glucose, dextrose and maltose are all sugar.

Always check the ingredient list to determine if the sugar is natural or added, said Ms Jeannie Tay, a dietitian at Alexandra Hospital.

For example, a cereal that contains dried fruit is likely to contain more natural sugar than one without added fruit, said Ms Tay.

If both have the same sugar content, the one with fruit may be a healthier choice as it probably has less added sugar.

Sounds simple enough - but there is more to know.

Ingredients may be disguised under alternative names, said Ms Nehal Kamdar, a dietitian at Raffles Hospital.

For instance, fat may be listed as shortening, milk solids, nuts or chocolate, she said.
Innocuous-sounding names like yeast extracts, hydrolised proteins and baking powder actually indicate hidden salt.

Sugar too can be masked by descriptions such as modified carbohydrate, polysaccharides, molasses, sorbitol, syrup, icing and fruit juice concentrate.

Said Ms Kamdar: 'If you see some of these names in the first three items in the ingredient list, the product may contain unhealthy levels of fat, salt or sugar.'

Also, do not be fooled into thinking that if an ingredient is not listed, it is completely absent from the food, warned Ms Kamdar.

This is because the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an international food regulatory body, allows food manufacturers to exclude ingredients that are present in very small amounts.

Local food regulations set by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) follow FDA standards very closely.

For instance, trans-fat does not have to be listed if the total fat content of the food product is less than 0.5g per serving, and it does not claim to be free of fat, fatty acids or cholesterol.

However, there is a way to detect such products that do not list trans-fat but contain traces of it, said Ms Kamdar.

'If trans-fat is not listed, a footnote will be added stating that the food is 'not a significant source of trans-fat',' she said.

There are times when nutritional values cannot be verified. Items are required to only carry a nutritional information panel when there are nutritional claims made.

Hence, the only clues you can get are from the ingredient list.

Take a bread product made with 70 per cent wholegrains. If the first item listed has the word 'whole', it is likely that the bread is indeed mostly wholegrain. This is because ingredients are listed in order of decreasing weight.

'But if there are several grain ingredients and the first ingredient is not a wholegrain, the situation gets more complex,' said MsKamdar.

For example, the ingredient list may read: enriched white flour, wholewheat, whole oat flour and whole cornmeal.

'From this list, you won't be able to tell if the product is 70 per cent or 7 per cent wholegrain,' she said.

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