Reading Nutrition Labels: A Small Skill for Smarter Choices

Nutrition labels on packaging provide information on energy, sugar, salt, fat and serving size. Knowing how to read them helps you compare similar products and choose more suitably.

One easy point of confusion is serving size: the numbers on the label are usually per serving, not the whole pack. If you eat the whole pack, the actual amount can be much higher than the first number you see.

Watch for different names for sugar such as syrup, honey and dextrose, and their position in the ingredient list. Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight.

This is general information to help make wiser food choices.