Eat Healthy-Nutritional Label Part 2-How to Read,Analyse and Understand

This article is a continuation of my first article "Eat Healthy-Nutritional Label-How to Read, Analyse and Understand Nutritional Labels".

You'll be exposed to more samples of nutrition labels in this article as a means of sharpening your skill of reading and understanding nutrition labels. It would be better if you could print out these labels (courtesy of Nutritiondata.com).

Firstly....we'll compare two nutrition labels; one describing Low Fat Chocolate Milk and another Whole Chocolate Milk. Best to print them out first!!

Nutrition Label-Low Fat Chocolate Milk

Nutrition Label-Whole Chocolate Milk

Now...let's start by looking at the Serving Size and Serving Size Per Container....

Both of the milk products have the same Serving Size (i.e 1 cup 250g) and Serving Per Container (i.e 2 cups). What does this tell us??

Basically, this means that the value of the nutrients displayed in the nutrition labels of the milks can be compared directly...without any multiplication or division. It's a direct comparison because the Serving Size and Serving per Container are same for both food products.

The next step is to look at the Calories and Calories from Fat values. Looking at the Whole milk nutrition label...the Calories from fat is 74, which is about 36% of the total Calories i.e 208. On the other hand, the Calories from fat of the Low Fat Chocolate Milk is only 14% of its total Calories of 157.

Therefore, if you consumed 1 cup of Whole Chocolate Milk compared to 1 cup of Low Fat Chocolate Milk...you'll be taking in 22% more Calories from Fat into your system. This is a literal consumption of fat, which may cause heart diseases, obesity, blood pressure and diabetics!!!

1 points for Low Fat Chocolate Milk!!

Next...we'll have to consider the type of nutrients and its value in both products.

• Low Fat Chocolate Milk contains 2g of Saturated Fat and 1g of Trans Fat (as the Total Fat is 3g), while the Whole Milk contains 5g of Saturated Fat and 3g of Trans Fat (as the Total Fat is 8g). Based on this Low Fat Milk scores another 1 point!!
• Cholesterol vice...Low Fat Chocolate Milk contains 8mg in every 1 cup compared to 30mg in every cup of Whole Chocolate Milk, which gives another point to Low Fat Milk!!
• Sodium...there is 152mg of Sodium in every cup of Low Fat Chocolate Milk compared to 150mg of Sodium in a cup of Whole Chocolate Milk. Finally...1 point for Whole Milk!!
• Both milk products contain the same amount of Carbohydrate in every cup i.e 26g.
• Low Fat Chocolate Milk contains 1g of Dietary Fiber and 25g of Sugar in every cup in contrast with 2g of Dietary Fiber and 24g of Sugar in 1 cup of Whole Chocolate Milk. Based on this facts, the Whole Chocolate Milk scores 2 more points!!
• The Protein amount in both products are similar i.e 8g.
• Low Fat Chocolate Milk contains 10% of Vitamin A and 29% of Calcium compared to 5% of Vitamin A and 28% of Calcium in 1 cup of Whole Chocolate Milk.

So..which milk product will you purchase??

Based on the nutrition labels and its analysis above...the Low Fat Chocolate Milk would be a healthier choice as the Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Trans Fat, Calories From Fat and Cholesterol content are much more lower than the Whole Chocolate Milk. The amount of Vitamin A and Calcium in 1 cup of the Low Fat Chocolate Milk are also higher than its counterpart.

Even if the Sodium, Dietary Fiber and Sugar content of the Low Fat Chocolate Milk is higher than the Whole Milk...the difference is insignificant...making the Low Fat Milk a better choice!!

Try analysing these two food products now...Chocolate Cake and Doughnut...and write a comment on the selection you'll make. Stay tune for the next article: Eat Healthy-Ingredients and its Impact on riteliving.blogspot.com!!

Nutrition Label-Chocolate Cake

Nutrition Label Doughnut