Health Topics for Nutrition

Nutrition for diabetics: food labels

For people with diabetes, it is especially important to read food labels. Reading food labels will help you quickly identify whether or not the food product is a healthy choice for your meal plan. What you learn from reading and comparing food labels will help you avoid any ingredients that you may be sensitive to as well as help you limit nutrients that you want to cut back on and increase those nutrients that you want to consume in greater amounts.

First, when reading food packages, look for any special nutrient claims, such as "low fat," "no saturated fat," "sugar-free," and "high fiber." Nutrient claims such as these are emphasizing nutrient content and levels. If a health claim is made, it will describe the relationship between a food or food component (such as fat, calcium, or fiber) and a disease or health-related condition. The FDA has authorized claims for only seven diet and health relationships that are supported by extensive research.

Read the ingredient list to find out what is in the food. The ingredients are listed in descending order by weight and include any color additives, preservatives, and nutrients, fats, or sugars that have been added.

Most foods in grocery stores have the government-required Nutrition Facts label, which can be found on the side or back of the package. However, very small packages, foods prepared in the store, and foods made by small manufacturers are exempt from having this label.

The Nutrition Facts label enables nutritional comparisons of similar foods. It lists calorie measurements, serving size, percent daily values, minerals and vitamins, nutrients, and fat percentages. It identifies and quantifies key nutrients in a serving as a percentage of daily values (%DV) for a 2,000-calorie diet. The Percent Daily Value of each nutrient shows whether a food is high or low in these nutrients. If one serving of a product has 10 to 19 percent of the Daily Value, it is considered a good source. However, 20 percent or more is considered high.

People with diabetes should pick foods that have low Percent Daily Values for fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol and a high Percent Daily Value for fiber. If the number is 5 or less the food is considered low in that nutrient.

The Nutrition Facts label gives grams of total carbohydrate, fat, and protein. A low fat food is defined as containing 3 grams of fat or less per serving. Knowing the grams of protein in a food product is helpful to diabetics who restrict their protein intake because they are at risk for developing kidney disease or trying to manage the kidney disease they have developed.

Be aware that the serving sizes listed in the Nutrition Facts label may be different from serving sizes used for diabetic exchange lists and the USDA Food Guide Pyramid. The Pyramid provides easy-to-remember serving sizes for each of the food groups that, in most cases, are nutritionally comparable. The Nutrition Facts label serving sizes provide detailed nutritional information on a food for easy comparison with similar foods. The Nutrition Facts label is deliberately specific for similar food products to allow the consumer to determine the differences of important nutrients between these foods. Diabetics with individualized meal plans should know the serving sizes required for food selections in their diet program so that they can effectively compare foods and make smart food choices.

Last Reviewed 2005

Disclaimer: This content is reviewed periodically and is subject to change as new health information becomes available. The information provided is intended to be informative and educational and is not a replacement for professional medical evaluation, advice, diagnosis or treatment by a healthcare professional.

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