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Tips for Understanding Food Labels

Tips for Understanding Food Labels

Learn the importance of reading food labels, and some tips for understanding them.


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Understanding how to read nutrition labels is imperative for individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), as diet needs vary based on disease stage, lab results, and medical advice. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates food labels, which are divided into four sections: serving size, calories, nutrients, and daily value. Learn more about how to read and understand food labels to support your optimum health.*

Understanding food label categories

Serving Size

Serving sizes are not specific health recommendations, but they provide a context for understanding the nutritional information, as well as allow for comparison between products. It’s important to know how many servings one consumes, so you can determine how many calories, as well as nutrients like sodium, potassium, protein, fiber, and added sugar, you are consuming.

Calories

Calories indicate the energy obtained from a specific food per serving. Insufficient calorie intake can cause your body to leach protein from your muscles for energy. Eating an appropriate number of calories daily can also help you maintain a healthy weight. It’s important to get your calories from nutritious sources like whole foods. 

Unhealthy foods contain what are called empty calories. They contain plenty of sugar and/or fat, and may temporarily stave off hunger, but they have few, if any, micronutrients that your body can use, like protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Nutrients

The nutrient section includes fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol are detailed with recommendations to limit saturated fat intake.

  • Sodium. Sodium is critical for muscle and nerve function, but can lead to high blood pressure and fluid buildup in people with CKD. 
  • Total carbohydrates. Total carbohydrates include dietary fiber, total sugars, and added sugars. Dietary fiber aids digestion and helps reduce cholesterol and blood sugar spikes.
  • Protein. Protein intake varies based on CKD stage, with recommendations to limit intake during stages 3-5 and increase during dialysis.
  • Vitamins and minerals. Vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium are vital for health and must be considered in the diet. Too much potassium and phosphorus can be dangerous for CKD patients at certain disease stages. At the same time, vitamin D supplementation may be necessary.

Daily Value (DV)

The % DV indicates the percentage of each nutrient in a single serving, based on general recommended daily amounts from the FDA. It’s essential for CKD patients to understand their specific nutrient needs, so work with your kidney doctor and renal dietitian to determine what you should be looking for on food labels.

Helpful tips for reading food labels

Here are just a few helpful tips to follow when food shopping.

When reading food labels, keep in mind that ingredients are listed in weight order. For instance, the first ingredient listed is the most abundant one present in that food item, the second ingredient listed is the second most abundant, and so on. Take notice whether sugar and salt appear in the top three ingredients or further down the list, which is preferable.

Many canned or otherwise preserved foods often contain additives like phosphorus, potassium, or calcium. Phosphorus may not be listed under nutrients, but can be found in the ingredient list, usually with “phos” somewhere in the ingredient name, such as monosodium phosphate or phosphoric acid.

You can make more informed food choices by:

  • Understanding your unique nutrient needs,
  • Evaluating different foods’ sodium, potassium, and protein content, 
  • Checking serving sizes, and
  • Examining ingredient lists for additives that could interfere with your treatment.

*Budd Levy, L. (2024). How to Read a Nutrition Label. Cukebook

https://www.cukebook.org/guides/diet/how-to-read-a-nutrition-label/ 

Responsum Health closely vets all sources to ensure that we always provide you with high-quality, reliable information. We do not, however, endorse or recommend any specific providers, treatments, or products, and the use of a given source does not imply an endorsement of any provider, treatment, medication, or procedure discussed within.

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