Now many friends will look at the ingredient list and know that the amount of addition in the front is high, but how high is the specific addition? We have no way of knowing, but the "ingredient party" friends can find clues from another outer box label to assess whether the product in hand is cost-effective.
The digital secret in the nutrition facts table
The nutrition facts table is stipulated in the General Principles of Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Foods, which stipulates that prepackaged foods should be compulsorily labeled with the four nutrients and energy ("4+1") content values and their percentage of nutrient reference value (NRV). where "4" refers to core nutrients, i.e. protein, fat, carbohydrates, sodium, and "1" refers to energy.
Nutrition facts table of a product of BGI
The NRV (nutrision reference values) in the far right column is the nutrient reference value, which can be said to be the core of the nutrition facts table. It can play a good role in prompting: choose foods with high nutritional value.
The country has a "daily dietary recommended amount" for caloric values and each nutrient, NRV% refers to the nutrient content of each serving of the product, as a percentage of the daily dietary recommended nutrient reference value, that is, "nutrient reference value %" = "content per serving of the substance / nutrient reference value".
NRV Recommended Daily Intake Standard Part of the value
Let's do a math problem:
The nutritional content table of the product in the above figure is an example, the energy contained in each 100 grams of the product is 1643 kJ, and the daily energy NRV given by the state is 8400 kJ, and 1643➗8400 is about equal to 20%, so the NRV% value in the energy column of the product nutrition table is 20%.
But one serving of this product is 2.4 grams, so the energy intake of eating a serving of the product is (1643 kJ 100) ✖️2.4 is about 39 kJ ➗, knowing that the energy is very low can be eaten with peace of mind.
How can we tell if the packaged food we buy is worth it?
Check the true volume/weight of each drink/food:
Usually the nutrition table is labeled in units of 100 grams or 100ml, but there are also units of whole packages, small packets, etc., so don't think that the value in the table is the value of the whole food.
Want to judge the impact of the product on their nutritional intake, or look at its total amount, for example, a bag of 100 grams of biscuits packaging says that the energy is 2000kJ, we eat 50g, that is, intake of 1000kJ energy.
Determine the source of energy:
Total energy value = protein + fat + carbohydrate, the sum of the three provides energy. We need to pay attention to who provides energy among the three in this food ingredient, protein is usually in milk, meat proportion is higher; Fats are included in snacks such as potato chips and biscuits and artificially added oils; Carbohydrates refer to cereals, legumes, sugars, etc.
Take a brand of cola as an example, the ingredients include water, fructose syrup, white sugar, food additives and food flavors, of which only fructose syrup and white sugar can provide energy, then the carbohydrates it writes are basically sugar.
Four major nutrient content values:
Protein, fat, carbohydrates, sodium, the "four kings" are most related to physical health and diseases, and people with special nutritional needs need to pay attention to different items, such as high blood pressure people to buy foods with low sodium content, people with high blood lipids should pay attention to fat content, fat loss fitness people should choose high protein, low fat and low sugar food.
What to look for for other nutrients:
This part is more common are dietary fiber, sugar, trans fat, saturated fatty acids, vitamins, calcium and other minerals. Among them, we focus on trans fat content and sugar content, which should not be too high, especially for people with metabolic diseases, which need more attention.