In addition to Canada’s Food Guide, the nutrition information on food labels can help you make informed food choices.
There are three parts to the nutrition information on a label.
- Nutrition Facts Table
Provides information on the calories and 13 nutrients for the serving size shown on the label. The information can help you choose foods higher in fibre and lower in fat, sugar and salt.
- Ingredients List
Provides a list of items found in the product. Items are listed in order of weight from highest to lowest. For example, the first few items listed are found in the largest amounts in the product. The ingredient list is especially helpful for people with allergies and for people who avoid certain ingredients based on their beliefs.
- Nutrition Claims
There are two types of nutrition claims:
- Nutrient content claims help you make informed food choices by telling you about a certain nutrient in a food such as sodium, fat or sugar. Health Canada sets rules that must be met before a nutrition claim can be made on a label or advertisement.
- Health claims tell you how your diet can affect your health. For example,
- A healthy diet rich in a variety of vegetables and fruit may help reduce the risk of some types of cancer.
- A healthy diet low in saturated and trans fats may reduce the risk of heart disease.
