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To some, nutritional information labels look so confusing; they might as well be in Turkish. However, these nutrition facts are key to your health, as they can help you make better food decisions and even fend off diseases.
A basic nutrition fact is the number of calories per serving. To make sense of it, you must know the number of calories you need per day. It varies based on factors such as your age, gender and level of physical activity. Online calorie calculators are available.
 In Singapore, energy needs of sedentary office workers have been estimated at 1,700 calories per day for females, and 2,100 calories for males, says Ms Grace Quek, dietitian at the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Take a small banana muffin. At about 275 calories per serving, it contains a sixth of the dietary caloric requirement of a sedentary female office worker. That is one way of putting things into perspective.
If you’re not keen to do simple divisions, a general rule of thumb is: Any food that contains 400 or more calories per serving is a food high in calories, according to USDA guidelines.
For foods that don’t come with neat packaging and nutrition facts, do check out the convenient “Energy and Nutrient Composition of Foods” tool on Health Xchange.
Fat counts
Apart from calories, fat content is the next thing most people like to keep a tab on when it comes to nutritional information.
“Low-fat items are foods that have 3 g or less of total fat per 100 g,” says Ms Quek. The high-fat category comprises any food with 20 g or more of total fat per 100 g.
Daily fat allowances are below:
| Total fat |
47-56 g |
58-70 g |
| Saturated fat |
17 g |
21 g |
| Cholesterol |
300 mg |
Fatten up your chances of remembering
Can’t remember these numbers? Use round figures, or create a mnemonic. For example, a female could target a maximum of 50 g (round number) of total fat per day. Guys could aim for 62, the current retirement age in Singapore!
For saturated fat, females can think of the age they had when they took their O’ level exams (typically 16 or 17). Guys can associate it to the country’s legal age of majority.
Why worry about nutritional labels? Many studies have shown that people underestimate the number of calories in food, especially in unhealthy items. Simply put, nutritional literacy increases awareness.
For instance, a char siew pow looks pretty inoffensive – it’s steamed, right? -- until you learn that its fat content (15 g) represents almost a third of the daily allowance for a typical female cubicle-dweller.
Saturated fat is of particular concern because it tends to raise levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) in the blood. A high cholesterol level is a prime risk factor for ischaemic heart disease, the second cause of death in Singapore.
While HPB recommends a maximum of 300 mg of dietary cholesterol per day, individuals with a high cholesterol level should limit themselves at 200 mg per day, says Ms Quek.
Sodium, last but not least
Sodium is a mineral found in salt, MSG and a variety of processed food. According to HPB, the average adult Singaporean consumes 3525 mg of sodium per day. That’s well above the recommended limit of 2000 mg of sodium per day. Beyond that, there is a risk of adverse effects such as high blood pressure.
Be sure to check the sodium content stated on the nutrition information label, next time you buy breakfast cereals, a frozen meal or just about anything in a can. You could be in for a surprise. |