Food Labels and Your Child’s Health
My kids are always on the go with planned activities and physical play that burns energy all day long. Whether they’re hitting the slopes, lacing up for soccer, acting in a school play, or just wrestling in our living room, their bodies are always moving and always in need of more food.
Advertising, when done right, will draw your kid in and have them begging for bright colors and products that feature their favorite characters. Before you say yes to that trendy snack it’s important to take a hard look at what is actually in the box.
Since 1994, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that all packaged foods sold in the United States include a Nutrition Facts label. The label includes a lot of information, but that information is only helpful if you understand what it means and how it applies to your personal nutrition needs. Everybody is different, and EVERY BODY has unique nutrition needs - including little bodies. Since the standard Nutrition Facts label is based on the needs of an average adult, it’s important to know not just how to interpret the information listed, but how to apply that information to the needs of a child. Keeping kids hydrated and fueled is the number one goal when it comes to nutrition for a healthy child and the tips in this guide are geared towards this goal. If you have concerns about your child’s dietary needs, contact their pediatrician.
Calories & Serving Size
At the very top of a Nutrition Facts label you will find numbers that relate to the total amount of food in the package, the serving or portion size, and the number of calories found in each serving or portion. These numbers will be important to understanding the rest of the information that follows on the label.
What to know:
The number of servings per container is listed immediately under the label heading.
Serving size is listed second and may appear as a weight, scooped or poured measurement, or as pieces (a serving of pretzels for example may be 5-7 pieces).
The remaining information on the label relates to a single serving, not the whole package.
Nutrition Facts labels are based on a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet, but not all people need to consume that much and some need to consume more. Calorie need is based on age, weight, and physical activity in a particular day.
What to do:
Find your child’s age on the chart and estimate the number of calories they need in a given day based on their age and activity level. Keep this number in mind as you plan meals and snacks for the day ahead.
If you choose to eat more than one serving of a product multiply the numbers on the label by the number of servings you consume to find information about what you have eaten.
Nutrients
The nutrients section of the Nutrition Facts label will help you understand how the product will (or won’t) fuel your child’s body. The heading for this section is % Daily Value, which refers to the amount of each listed nutrient that can be found in a serving/portion, in relationship to how much of that nutrient the average body needs in a day.
What to know:
The nutrients listed on the label can be divided into two groups which are shown in orange and green.
Saturated fat, trans fats, cholesterol and sodium are shown in orange.
Fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium are shown in green.
What to do:
Your child’s body does not need an excess of the nutrients in the orange section, so look for snacks where these numbers are low (ideally below 5%).
Your child needs the nutrients shown in green to become bigger, stronger and keep them moving all day, so look for snacks where these numbers are high (ideally above 20%).
Ingredients
The ingredients list can be found in its own box immediately below the Nutrition Facts label, and is much like a recipe for how the product was made.
What to know:
Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, so the ingredient(s) that appear first are most prevalent.
Some words may not be familiar or even sound like food. For example, there are more than 65 terms for sugar that may appear on a food label.
Common allergens are listed on the bottom of the ingredients list.
What to do:
Select foods where the first ingredients are familiar to you, and include foods you would feel good feeding your child—such as oats, eggs or nuts.
Look for foods where sugar falls lower on the list of ingredients.
If you don’t recognize a word, take a moment to look it up. Many of the unfamiliar words may represent preservatives which are used to give foods a longer shelf life, but can have health consequences for your child’s developing brain and body.
Back away from the box if you are unable to recognize or pronounce more than half of the words that appear in the ingredients list.
Food Allergies & Medical Concerns
The Nutrition Facts label can be especially helpful if your child has a food allergy or a medical concern that requires caution when choosing what to eat. The FDA requires that the label indicates the presence of any of the the nine major food allergens milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame.
This resource from the FDA can help you learn even more about how you can protect your child from food allergens and items to which they may have sensitivities.
The American Diabetes Association has created a shopping guide for people with diabetes.
When in doubt - Make your own
Save the convenience snacks for when you really need them most, and opt for fresh foods and home cooked meals and snacks when at all possible. These NO BAKE granola balls are a great substitute for packaged granola bars, and are easy to make with the help of little hands.
Making your own food is ultimately the only way to truly know what is in the meals and snacks you are serving to your child. Cooking and preparing food from scratch is not only better for your health, it presents incredible learning and bonding opportunities for you and your children.
Read more about Nutrition from on RedTreehouse.org
Contributed by Krista Lehde, Nutrition Consultant, Mother of Three, and owner of UpBeet Cooking. Master Level Certified: Nutrition & Wellness, Holistic Nutrition, Weight Management Specialist, and Sports Nutritionist.