Reading and Understanding Food Labels - for Kids!

We all know that the nutritional label is the “table of contents” for a food product. By scanning this handy box, we can learn fairly quickly whether the item is good for us or not. But our kids may not yet understand what a “trans fat” is or whether having “21% Daily Value of Sodium” is a good or bad thing! Teaching your kids a simple way to read food labels will help them quickly decode whether the item is OK to eat!

The best place to learn about labels is in your local supermarket. Take your children with you the next time you go shopping and have them try some of these exercises at the store or once you get home with your new purchases.

Tip #1 SERVING SIZE: Have your children portion out what they think is an appropriate portion for kids of their age. Then show them what the label lists as the portion size. Take out a measuring cup and show them the difference. Learning this critical aspect of the label will set them up for a lifetime of proper portion control. Especially with sugary drinks - often a bottle of soda doesn’t contain one serving, but 2 servings, which is very surprising for many!

Tip # 2 TRANS FAT: Even though the FDA allows for any food product with .05g of trans fat or less to state it is “Trans Fat Free”, savvy eaters know that no amount of trans fat should be accepted. Therefore, teaching your children to find that line on the label might be misleading. Instead, have them check that the item has 0g of trans fats, and that it does NOT have “Partially Hydrogenated Oils” in the ingredient list.

Tip #3 SUGARS: It’s true that fat doesn’t make us fat, sugar does. Studies routinely point to sugar as the major culprit in childhood obesity. So kids can easily scan the label for “Sugars” and aim for the lowest possible amounts. When shopping for breakfast cereal for instance, have them choose 2-3 they like and pick the one with the least amount of sugar. (6g or less in cereals would be ideal). As a bonus, your kids will get a little math workout too! For instance, if an item has 12 grams of sugar, they can divide that by four to find out the number of teaspoons of sugar per serving (4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon). That means, a cereal with 12 grams of sugar will have 3 teaspoons (or 1 tablespoon) of sugar PER serving.

Tip #4 FIND THE GOOD STUFF: Nutrients like fiber and vitamins are good for our kids (and for us too!) So have them get excited about eating foods that are high in fiber and vitamins – which can easily be found on the nutritional label.

With a little investigative work and a bit of fun, your kids can learn to be label sleuths and maybe get a little healthier in the process!

-SG