Are foods with fewer nutrients healthier? Hidden sign traps you should know about

When choosing food in the supermarket, many people will rely on the information on the packaging to make "healthy choices." Some people prefer to rely on a simple rule: fewer ingredients is better, because such products usually look more natural and less processed.

But if you want to maintain cardiovascular health, just looking at the quantity of ingredients is not enough. You also need to be able to read labels and know how to identify high sodium, high sugar or trans fat hidden in foods.

{99 9} Understand the nutrition label

On most packaged foods, you can see a nutrition label column, which usually includes:

. Heat

. Protein

. Fat (saturated fat and trans fat)

. Carbohydrates (sugar-containing)

. Sodium

These nutrients will be presented in two ways: "per serving" and "per 100 grams or per 100 ml":

. Each serving lets you know how many nutrients you are actually getting when you eat your next serving.

. Each 100g/ml is convenient for you to compare the nutritional density of different products, especially when selecting the same type of food.

For example, if you buy a 375 ml bottle of sugar-free soy milk, the label may say "165 calories per serving" and "44 calories per 100 ml." This way you can know how many calories you have consumed after drinking the entire bottle, and you can also use the value per 100 ml to compare with other brands.

Short ingredient list≠Healthy

Although a short ingredient list may mean less processing, you still need to pay attention to the type and order of ingredients. Added sugars, sodium and trans fats in foods often appear by aliases, giving the impression that the amounts are low.

The disguised names of sugar include:

. High fructose corn syrup

. Fructose, glucose, sucrose

. Maltose syrup, molasses

. Concentrated fruit juice, sugar cane juice

Even if sugar is not the top three ingredients, if there are multiple forms of sugar, the total content may still be high, which can easily cause obesity and metabolic problems.

Potential sources of sodium include:

. Table salt

. MSG

. Sodium benzoic acid and sodium nitrite (commonly found in processed foods such as hot dogs, ham, bacon, etc.)

The recommended daily sodium intake for adults in Taiwan is no more than 2,400 mg, but the actual intake of most people is much higher than this, which can easily lead to high blood pressure and heart disease.

The disguised name of trans fat:

. Partially hydrogenated oil

. Hydrogenated vegetable oil

Even if it is labeled as 0 grams of trans fat, it can still be labeled as 0 as long as it is less than 0.3 grams per serving, so you still need to pay special attention to whether hydrogenated oil appears in the ingredient list.

The following are examples:

. Potato chips: only three ingredients (potatoes, oil, salt), but high in oil and sodium

. Soda: It may only be water, sugar and flavoring, but it contains a lot of added sugar

. Chocolate: short ingredient list, but high in saturated fat and sugar

The real key is what the ingredients are, not how many.

How to make healthy choices based on labels?

1. The type of ingredients is more important than the quantity: Understand the source of the ingredients and avoid too many artificial additives

2. The order of ingredients reveals the dosage: the higher the number, the higher the content

3. Learn to identify hidden ingredients: such as those with different names Sugar and sodium

4. Make good use of the value per 100g for comparison: especially when comparing similar products

5. Give priority to prototype foods and whole foods: such as frozen vegetables, plain nuts, unflavored beans, brown rice, oats, etc.