What Food Claims Really Mean

Heres a fun list for all of you on what the claims on food packages really mean. There is regulation on these and all claims must meet a certain criteria. Here are some good ones!

• Fat-Free: less than 0.5 g of fat per serving
• Cholesterol-Free: less than 2 mg of cholesterol or 2 g or less of sat. fat and trans fat per serving
• Calorie-Free: les than 5 calories per serving
• Sugar-Free: contains less than 0.5 g of sugar
• Low-Calorie: contains 40 calories or less per serving
• Low fat: less than 3 g per serving
• High: food contains 20% or more of the Daily Value for a particular nutrient
• Good source: food contains 10-19% of the Daily Value for one nutrient
• Reduced: altered to contain at least 5% les of a nutrient of calories
• Light:
• Contains 1/3 fewer calories or half the fat of the food
• th sodium content has been reduced by at least 50%
• Healthy: must be low in fat and sat. fat and contain limited amonts of cholesterol (<60 mg) and sodium (<360 mg). Plus, any one item must have at least 10% of any of these: vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein,or fiber.

Eye opening at all? Didn't know that "free" meant it could still have the nutrient in the food? Careful what you're reading folks! Just because it says healthy or light doesn't mean that it is the best choice or automatically nutrient dense. Keep reading those labels people!