Food labels are a useful source of information on nutrition but in todays world, food marketing can be very confusing. Manufactures make a lot of claims about there foods such as Lite, Reduced Fat or Diet but what do all these claims mean. Hopeful this article will give you enough information to shop healthier and keep your body at optimum health.

Light or Lite

Be careful with these labels check what the characteristics which makes the food light. This label does not mean the product is low in fat or low in energy it means that some thing about the product is light be it colour, size, and weight. A good example of this is light olive oil. The oil has the same fat content but is lighter in color. Also be careful light foods may be lower in fat but often have the same or a greater amount of kilojoules than the regular variety

No Cholesterol or Cholesterol Free

To be labled as cholesterol free the food must have less than 3 milligrams of cholesterol per 100 grams. This does not mean low fat. Vegetables do not contain any cholesterol but animal foods do. An example of this is vegetable oils are cholesterol free yet 100% fat.

Reduced Fat

This mean label means that the food contains less that 75% of the total fat of it comparable food. For example often reduced fat cheese will contain 25% less fat that regular cheese but it is still high in fat.

Low Fat

This label means that the food contains less then 3 grams of fat per 100 grams or 1.5 gram of fat per 100 milliliters of liquid.

No Added Sugar

This mean that no simple sugars have been added, but this product may not be low in sugar. It may have a lot of nature sugar like those in fruits.

Toasted This usually means fat has been added during cooking or preparation. For example, toasted muesli will be higher in fat than untoasted muesli.

Oven baked This does not have to mean anything at all. Sometimes the product is lower in fat than the standard product which does not say oven baked. Reading the nutrition information panel will help you determine the fat content.

Diet or low-joule These foods usually have artificial sweeteners in them instead of sugar, which makes them lower in calories (eg. diet soft drinks)

To make the right decision when shopping it is always best to check the nutritional information panel instead of making a decision purely on the manufactures marketing. Look for foods that have lower percentages of fat and lower overall kilojoules.