Food labels can be useful in determining the nutritional value and safety of food. However it is common for individuals to not fully understand the labels and miss the most important components.

The percentage of fats, carbohydrates, proteins and calories and serving size isn’t the most common important part of the food label… This component of the food label doesnt takes into account the quality of the labelled nutrients and can mislead the consumers.

The recommended daily values don’t take into acount the age, gender, activity level or specific dietary needs a person may have. All of these factors are known to impact the body’s ability to utilize nutrients in the food. An unknown complicating factor is the abundance of highly processed foods in restaurants and grocery stores.

Convenience is becoming the most important part of our food-not nutrients. Recent studies show that the amount of grinding, slicing, mashing and manipulating away from a food’s natural state affects the availability of calories people get. Processing increases the amount of calories one can get from the food. This may appear to be good news, but processed foods often contain artificial colourings, sugars, preservatives and other added chemicals that are unhealthy and addictive. Being addicted to those foods will increase consumption, increase calories consumed and encourage weight gain, diabetes and heart diseases. Processed foods may serve a purpose for under-nourished, but over-nourishement and weight gain have become the most prevalent health complications in the world. The rates of non-communicable diseases are increasing out of control in most regions.

To be continued