Understanding some of our food labels can be quite daunting at times. What is low in added sugar or high protein and less fat? Here are a few meanings to help you read the labels.

Organic – Foods can only have ‘organic’ on them if they have at least 95% of their farmed ingredients organic.

Low Salt – They say that we should eat no more than 6g of salt a day (to avoid high blood pressure). To be “low salt” the product must have less than 0.03g per 100g. If the product lists sodium (which is one of the two main components of salt) then you will need to multiply this by 2.5 for true salt content.

High Fibre – For a product to claim it is high in fibre it must contain at least 6g of fibre per 100g or at least 3g per 100 calories. Do not mix this up with the ‘a source of fibre’ as this means the product will only contain at least 3g per 100g per 100 calories.

High Protein – Under EU rules, ‘high protein’ can only be made when at least 20% of the calories are provided by protein. Be careful of ‘a source of protein’ as this means 12% of the energy value of the product is provided by protein.

Low Fat – Low Fat on a label means a product has 3g or less per 100g, while ‘reduced fat’ means a product is 25% lower in fat than the standard version. Be careful as many ‘reduced-fat’ products are extremely high in fat to start with. Also, watch out for added sugar in low-fat alternatives such as dairy products.

No added Sugar – This means that there is no free sugar added. Free sugar is any sugar that is not naturally occurring in a food or drink. The NHS advises adults have not more than 30g of free sugar per day. However, sugar may be present, but this will be naturally occurring such as sugars in fruit and milk. Preferably look for ‘low sugar’ foods that contain less than 5g of sugar per 100g.

Source: Vitality