Nutrition Labels

Question: How does the lack of nutrition labels on fast foods and restaurant menus affect the African-American community? How does the lack of nutrition labels on fast foods and restaurant menus affect the African-American community SPECIFICALLY? What questions do you have about obesity and African Americans?

Answer: Hello. Most fast food restaurants have their nutritional information available on the Web. But the time to look it up, the interest in doing it and the access to a computer would all be issues... The real question is why don't more families cook...food expense has a lot to do with it but buying fast food is actually more expensive, even if you buy the Williams 8 piece dark or McDonald's chicken nuggets all the time.... Another issue is simply knowing how to cook and teaching your children to like cooked food. Interestingly enough, this is becoming a problem all over the developed world, and not just with Black people. Even Japanese mothers have trouble somtimes keeping their kids away from the fast food.... People need to grow some food and herbs, cook, and eat what they cook.... This would help obesity issues, immensely. Oh and being active and making exercise a PRIORITY, the way Mrs. Obama and my family do...

Question: Why are there 2 nutrition labels on Popcorn bags? Why are there 2 nutrition labels on Popcorn bags? One for before you pop it and the other for after you have popped it. Do people really eat just the popcorn kernels? Or are there like reicipes where you use the unpopped kernels?

Answer: Are you kidding? All I do is eat the unpopped kernels! I fear the the sound the kernels make while popping. I had an uncle who passed away 2 years ago from a tragic car accident so naturaly I have a great fear (and respect) for popping kernels.

Question: What is the other fat that is not listed on nutrition labels? What is the other fat that is not listed on nutrition labels? for example a label will say; total fat 10g, then under it, sat. fat 1g, what is the other 9g? is it the healthy fat and it's just not listed? I have noticed this on many things, including a bottle of extra virgin olive oil I have, which only breaks down the sat. fat, and olive oil is supposed to be loaded with the healthy fat, but is not listed on my bottle.

Answer: Pure olive oil is a fat but should not have any sat. fat. The label on your olive oil would make me not buy that brand again. On other labels, you should see all the fats disclosed, so that's curious, too. I'm looking at a box of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! On the front of the box it states: 70% vegetable oil spread. Under that, it says, Contains 10g fat (2 g sat. fat) per serving. On the back of the box, where the detailed nutritional info per serving is listed, it reads: Total Fat 10g and breaks that down to: Saturated Fat 2g, Trans Fat 2.5g, Polyunsaturated Fat 2.5g, Monounsaturated Fat 3g ....those total to 10g If the labels you're looking at don't have a similar breakdown, I think they're breaking the law and you might want to consider not buying that product again. Who knows what else those brands are not telling us!

Question: what should I look for when inspecting food nutrition labels? What is the main information to look at when checking out the nutrition labels on my food? I know you shouldn't look at just the calories or the fat grams- but what else is important to keep track of?

Answer: I always look for trans-fats, partially hydrogenated oils(make sure there aren't any), sodium, calories and fat grams. Oh yeah and fiber is always a helpful ingredient.

Question: what to watch out for on nutrition labels? i'm starting to really look at nutrition labels before i eat anything.. i know sodium is bad for you, but how much do you think i could have in one day? because alot of things do have sodium in them, i just dont eat it or drink it if it has a lotttttt of it. but if you could give me an estimate how much i should limit, i'm really really trying to watch my weight. also, wat are some good and bad things on nutrition labels? and how much should I limit with those?

Answer: max is 100% Na look for proteins, fibres, and nutriemts

Question: On nutrition labels, do they say calorie when they mean KCal? I'm confused. I try to burn off what I eat by playing DDR, but if they're going by KCals on nutrition labels, then it'd be impossible, but it seems if they're going by regular calories, that then I could just do one song and burn the whole thing off plus some, because a KCal is supposed to be 1,000 calories. Right? Am I missing something somewhere?

Answer: A calorie is actually a unit of energy. We tend to associate calories with food, but they apply to anything containing energy. Specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy. Most of us think of calories in relation to food, as in "This can of soda has 200 calories." It turns out that the calories on a food package are actually kilocalories (1,000 calories = 1 kilocalorie). A can of soda containing 200 food calories contains 200,000 regular calories, or 200 kilocalories. The same applies to exercise -- when a fitness chart says you burn about 100 calories for every mile you jog, it means 100 kilocalories. It confused me for a while too.

Question: What are the others fat listed on nutrition labels that are not sat, trans, poly,mono, etc.? A lot of the times nutrition labels will give a fat content but fail to specify what kinds of fat. Say for example it will say Total Fat: 14 grams Sat Fat: 1 gram Trans Fat: 0 gram Poly Fat: 1.2 grams Mono Fat: 2.5 Thats only 4.7 grams of fat accounted for. What kind of fat is the other 9.3 grams?

Answer: I do not think they have a name. I think they are just plain fat. I know what you are saying because I have noticed that before on some labels.

Question: What is the point of reading nutrition labels and what are the pros and cons of reading them.? What is the point of reading nutrition labels and what are the pros and cons of reading them. I am doing a report at school so i need your help. thanks! :)

Answer: We read nutrition labels to see exactly what the manufacturer has put in the food. For instance, if we are on a sodium restricted diet, we'll want to read the label to make sure the sodium content is low enough. We can't rely on the advertising gimmicks on the front of the label. Just because something says "Low Sodium" on the front doesn't mean it's low enough. We have to read the nutrition label. Likewise, terms like "Low Fat", "Reduced Calorie", and "Lite", really don't mean anything. Only the nutrition label can tell you if it really is. As for pros and cons of reading nutrition labels, there really aren't any cons unless you just hate to take the time to read. Pros are you are more informed and won't be consuming ingredients you don't want.

Question: How do I read fats listed on nutrition labels? If I check out a nutrition label it will sometimes have saturated fats and the good fats such as poly and mono fats. When the top of the label just says "total Fat" does that mean it's including all the fats total of poly, mono, and saturated? Or is there such a thing of just plain Fat being different from saturated, mono, and poly fats??

Answer: Total fat is mono,saturated and poly.

Question: What food products have Joules listed on the nutrition labels as well as calories? Needed for extra credit tnx? I need to find a food product that includes Joules on its Nutrition Label for extra credit in class.

Answer: most of the food i eat has joules on the packaging. if you read it it will says for example energy - 687kj/187kcal ps if you cant find one use this one i have here. its a mars bar milkshake drink thing .. energy - 380kj/90kcal per 100ml :) ps, the kj means kilojoules, so the 380 kilojoules is actually 380 000 joules hope i help, let me know if thats what you mean!

Question: Why do some nutrition labels not breakdown fat grams? I just read a Nutrition label on a sandwich I wanted to buy and it says 26 fat grams but it only lists 2g of sat. fats below? So where are the other 24??? Does anyone know why this happens?

Answer: Because they are not yet required by law to break down the fats any further. Just like some products list trans fats and some don't.

Question: How many of you teens actually read nutrition labels and care how many calories you eat? How many of you teens actually read nutrition labels and care how many calories you eat? Please also include whether you are overweight, underweight or at a normal weight.

Answer: i look at labels because they're interesting but really don't care how many servings i eat. i eat until im full. i really don't care about calories

Question: Why we don’t have Nutrition Information/ ingredient labels on alcoholic drinks? We have nutrition information labels on water, why we don’t have it on drinks such as beer and wine?

Answer: Because aside from calories, there is basically nothing to list.

Question: What to look for and pay attention to when reading nutrition labels? I am not any good at reading the labels on food. What g/mg levels are considered high in the bad stuff, and what are considered high in the good stuff? and any other tips on what to look for to tell if a product is healthy or not. Thanks so much :)

Answer: Don't feel badly, labels are designed to be confusing. First check suggested serving size, usually unrealistic. Most important is carbohydrates in gms. minus fibre. Look for the relative lowest per serving.

Question: Why do nutrition labels of foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils state the food has zero trans-fats? I thought that trans-fats are in partially hydrogenated oils, and I see lots of products list these oils as an ingredient, but I have never seen a nutrition label that states anything other than zero grams of trans-fats for those products. What's up with that?

Answer: There is a law that states that if the food has less than 1 gram of trans fats, the company is not required to list the amount.

Question: Why arent there nutrition fact labels in back of hard liquor like on food and drinks? I was always curious why when i purchase and look for nutrition facts labels i could never find them in back of a bottle of vodka or scotch or gin or any form of hard liquor other then beer. Hope someone has the answer to this.

Answer: Most alcohol is regulated by the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which does not regulate that its products bear nutritional labeling. "...the labeling of all malt beverages, regardless of alcohol content, and of liquors and wines containing 7 percent or more by volume of alcohol is regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). TTB does not require that the products it regulates bear nutrition labeling." Here is a site that offers some nutritional facts for alcohol. http://www.dietfacts.com/search.asp?searchKey=alcohol Hope this helps!