Better Health By Reading The Label in Product Pack Before You Buy

Efforts to healthy living can be started from selecting the right foods. One of the things that is often overlooked is to read product labels on food & beverage packaging. Maybe this is often considered trivial, but the information on food labels is often important for example if we have to reduce excessive fat or carbohydrates.

By reading the label, clearly illustrated the identity of a food product: brand, code production, volume or net weight, nutritional content, quality, and time expired. We can compare similar products in terms of economic (price) and the conformity of products with health. For patients with hypertension, would not have to choose foods that contain high levels of sodium constituent material excess. Similarly, people with diabetes mellitus will avoid foods high sugar yield.

Here are some things that can be considered and the instructions to see the composition of the food contained in these products.

1. Nutritional Information

There are listed dosage information presentation and the number of serving per pack. It is important to know the amount of scrutiny for the content of the food that enters the body depends on a lot of content per serving.

2. Check the calorie content

The packaging will be listed caloric content and calories from fat. This shows how much energy will be consumed. If too many calories in a day will increase body weight and obesity risk. As a rule of thumb, if it contained 40 calories is low, 100 classified as moderate, and 400 is high.

3. The composition of food

Here will be listed any content contained in food products, such as fat content, carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins.

There are several categories of fat, ie fat-free (containing 0.5 grams per dose) and low in fat (less than 3 grams). There are also food products that are categorized as lean (less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams saturated fat, and no more than 95 milligrams of cholesterol) and free cholesterol (less than 2 milligrams cholesterol and 2 grams of saturated fat per dose). If you have a history of heart disease and obesity, then the amount of fat content, saturated fat and cholesterol should be low. For the disease high blood pressure, sodium levels should be low.

4. Pay attention to the numbers on the product label

Numbers listed on food labels using a percent, which is the daily value. This can help you determine the amount of content contained on a single dose, from 2000 calories (to diet) are needed per day. For example, the total fat content in a product is 4 percent, meaning that number is the recommended amount of 2,000 calories needed per day. The more you consume, the greater the amount of fat that enters the body (meaning more than necessary).

Artificial sweeteners

Food sweetener that is almost always there at every meal. Sweeteners greatly feared by people with diabetes mellitus. That is why a lot of foods using artificial sweeteners is very low glucose levels. Indonesia is the most widely used type of artificial sweetener than other countries in the world. Examples in Asean countries only 2-5 types, while Indonesia reached 13 species. Thirteen types of synthetic sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, cyclamate, taumatin, acesulfame, neotam, glisirizin, neophesperidin, monelin, steviose, and sucralose.

Use of artificial sweeteners safe during below threshold, including aspartame which has been the issue. For example, aspartame dose of 40 mg / kg body weight. This means that the consumption of as much as it does not pose any risk even if taken long term. Aspartame may be consumed all the people except for those who have the genetic disease phenylketonuria.

Forward synthetic sweeteners will grow because the views of some aspects quite profitable. Of sweetness, artificial sweeteners have 50-3000 times the level of sweetness than sugar and does not affect blood sugar levels. He is also colorless, odorless, and taste similar to sugar, easily soluble in water, and easily combined with various chemical compounds. Unfortunately, the sweet taste on the synthetic sweeteners such as sugar does not last long.

Maximum dose of synthetic sweeteners (in mg / kg body weight):

Aspartame 40 mg

Saccharin 5 mg

Acesulfame 15 mg

Sucralose 5 mg

Cyclamate 50 mg

Fatty acid

Fatty acids are feared by people with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Actually needed by the body fats as energy-producing, so there should be in the diet. In a 2,000-calorie diet, the recommended 65 g protein, 50 g fat, and carbohydrate 320 g. Fat becomes the largest energy source, because of every 1 g of fatty acids yield 9 kcal, while protein and carbohydrates each only 4 kcal. Fat solvents also vitamins A, D, E, and K, as well as delicious and savory flavors giver.

The fat is harmful if consumed in excessive amounts of saturated fat, whereas unsaturated very safe. Therefore, double bonds in unsaturated fatty acids apart easily when exposed to oxygen or oxidation occurs. These unsaturated fatty acids actually help lower blood LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol). Even the chain polyunsaturated fatty acids or monounsaturated fat sole beneficial reduce the risk of breast cancer up to 45%.

Unsaturated fat sources include beans, cacao, and avocado. So, if the label is listed containing unsaturated fatty acids, the figure should be ignored. While saturated fatty acids should be calculated based on the needs of each person's body.

Here are some types of fatty acids and their sources:

Saturated fatty acids:

Butyrate, a source rlemak milk.

Palmitate, animal fats and vegetable sources.

Stearate, animal and vegetable sources of fat.

Unsaturated fatty acids:

Palmitoleat, animal fats and vegetable sources.

Oleic, animal fats and vegetable sources.

Linoleate, a source of vegetable oil.

Linolenic acid, flax seed oil sources.

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