Shopping for food involves buying many packaged goods such as breads, cereals and snack foods. What are those packaged foods made of? The ingredient list is an important key to finding out what the foods consist of in terms of types of flour, sugars, fats and many other ingredients. Reading ingredient labels can help you make informed and healthy choices when shopping for groceries.
Step 1
Read the order of ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that food label ingredients be listed in order of most quantity to least quantity. Therefore, the first ingredient on the label is what the food consists of most. For example, you would see some type of flour listed first on a bread wrapper.
Step 2
Look for various types of ingredients. Typical ingredients include flours, oils and meats. Other varieties include thickeners, sweeteners, preservatives, flavor enhancers and color additives. Preservatives help prevent spoilage and maintain freshness; examples are citric acid, ascorbic acid, BHA and BHT. Sweeteners such as sucrose, fructose, sorbitol, aspartame or high fructose corn syrup help sweeten food. Color additives help keep food color from changing due to exposure to light or moisture; they also enhance the natural color of food or add color to cookies, candies or snacks. They usually include food dyes such as blue 2, red 40 or yellow 6. Thickeners help enhance the texture of food and include xanthan gum, whey, gelatin and guar gum. Common flavor enhancers include monosodium glutamate, autolyzed yeast extract and hydrolyzed soy protein.
Step 3
Address ingredient concerns. You may wonder if some ingredients are safe or if they might be linked to certain health conditions. The FDA evaluates substances for safety before approving their use in foods. Based on the optimum science available, they determine that "there is a reasonable certainty of no harm to consumers." Nevertheless, you may still have questions about ingredients such as food coloring or sweeteners. You need to review research studies on specific ingredients of concern to find more information to help formulate a personal choice. Research studies on various additive ingredients are found in peer-reviewed academic journals or academic journal database searches such as Academic Search Complete, available at your local library.
Step 4
Find oils, fats and cholesterol on the ingredient list. The American Heart Association advises limited consumption of saturated fat, trans fats and cholesterol. These include hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, palm oil, coconut oil and animal fats such as beef tallow, or lard, which can be found on ingredient labels.
Step 5
Compare the ingredient list with the nutrition facts label. A good way to evaluate a food is to cross-check both the nutrition facts label as well as the ingredients list. The nutrition facts label is on the package, usually above the ingredients list, and shows calories and nutrient amount information for a listed serving size of the food. You can compare nutrients as well as what type of ingredients are used. Evaluating the nutrition facts label and the ingredients is a valuable way to choose healthful foods.
Tips and Warnings
- Try to choose packaged foods with healthy ingredients such as whole grain flours, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and few sweeteners or flavor enhancers. Try to choose foods with as many natural or fresh ingredients as possible.
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