FOOD TIP: Nutrition Claims

Nutrition claims are the brightly coloured words that can be seen on the front, side and sometimes the back of food packages. Manufacturers use nutrition claims to grab your attention, but sometimes these claims can be misleading. Here what some of them mean:

• Light or lite - can refer the colour, texture, flavour, kilojoule content or fat content. It does not always mean that the product contains less kilojoules. Lite olive oil contains exactly the same kilojoule content as Extra Virgin but it is light in colour and flavour.
• Low in fat - means the product contain 3g or less of fat per 100g of the product.
• Fat reduced - the food has at least 25% less fat than its normal counterpart. A reduced fat food can still be high in both total and saturated fat as is the chance with reduced fat cheese.
• Cholesterol free - the product contains less than 3mg of cholesterol per 100g, but be careful as products that have cholesterol free written on them can still be high in total and saturated fat. Another point to note is that cholesterol is only found in animal products, so vegetable oils will always be cholesterol free.
• High fibre - the product must contain at least 3g of dietary fibre per serve of the product.
• No added sugar - means that no sugar has been added to the product, but natural sugar can still be present as is the case with honey and dried fruit. Always read the ingredients list and nutrition information panel to see if natural sugar is present in the product.
• Low joule or diet - the solid food or a semi-solid food contains less than 170kJ per 100g or for beverages contains less than 80kJ per 100ml.
• Low salt - the product must contain less than 120mg of sodium per 100g of the food.

Nutrition claims do not give you enough information about the food product as a whole. So it is always important to read the nutrition information panel and the ingredients list.