The saying you are what you eat is very true. Being aware is one thing, but do you actually have the habit of knowing what is actually in your food or more importantly what’s in your children’s food?
The picture above seems familiar to you? That’s right, everyone with a not-so-good eyesight squint to try and read the food labels. It’s too small to read at times. A tip to read those small letters is to take a picture of the food labels. That’s right, use that high definition phone camera and just zoom right in.
Moreover, all food packaging is required to have labels according to the Food Regulations 1985 by the Malaysian Ministry of Health. One of the restrictions is that it is forbidden for food producers to use words like ‘Nutritious’ or similar to it unless it fulfills ALL the requirements. These are some of the labels needed to be on food packaging.
So, parents, these are what you should be looking at:
- Quantity of Food (g, mg)
- Ingredients (Starts from biggest value to the lowest.)
- Nutrition Facts (This is important for everyone!)
- Expiration Date (Shame on you if you don’t provide this.)
An Example of Nutrition Facts Information
1. This is the serving information
It tells you the size of a single serving and the total number of servings per container/package. But humans are all different, so servings may vary. You don’t really need to follow it but it is recommended to glance through it.
2. This shows the total calories per serving/container.
Now you know how much calories your children consume when they eat the whole package. But generally, infants under six months will not need more than 600 calories a day while those aged six months to a year should not have more than 750 calories.
3. Fat check
Fat can be good and bad. Generally, babies would need good fats to grow. Saturated fat, sodium and trans fat should be avoided for infants.
When the Nutrition Facts label says a food contains “0 g of trans fat”, but includes “partially hydrogenated oil” in the ingredient list, it means the food contains some trans fat, but less than 0.5 grams per serving. Be careful Mama, don’t get blindsided!
4. The NO NO ingredients
- Added salt, sodium, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
- Added sugar, sucrose
- Rice, corn, and wheat starches
- Excess citric acid
- Pesticides
- Artificial flavours (like vanilla)
- Artificial Dye (often referred to by the colour name and a number like E100, E111, etc.)
- Carcinogens ( Arsenic can be found in rice-based food and aluminium)
- Fluoride
- BPA or any other chemicals (can be found in Formula containers)
5. What nutrition are you looking for?
Make sure you get enough of the nutrients your baby needs, such as calcium, choline, dietary fibre, iron, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins. When choosing among different brands or similar products, compare labels and choose foods with more of these nutrients whenever possible.
6. Understand % Daily Value
The % Daily Value (DV) tells you the percentage of each nutrient in a single serving, in terms of the daily recommended amount. If you want your children to consume less of a nutrient such as saturated fat or sodium choose foods with a lower % DV. If you want to consume more of a nutrient (such as fibre ), choose foods with a higher % DV.
Myth Busted
One of the things that mothers worry about is GMO or Genetically Modified foods. Furthermore, based on long-term studies in animals, there have been no additional risk shown to mother, foetus, or pregnancy outcome from GMO dietary exposure.
Since 1983, GM crops have been introduced into the food supply, including eggplants, strawberries, apples, papaya, tomatoes, and many more. There is still no evidence on GMOs being detrimental.
So, are you going to start reading those small prints now? Just be a detective, take out your magnifying glass and start your investigation. Otherwise, you can simply get the healthy foods for your children and the entire family from Motherhood.com.my.