Text/Chen Jiajia Photography/He Guo Hui
Xiao Fang, who has just entered junior high school, loves beauty more and more. She gained 0. 1 kg every day and stood on the weighing scale moaning. She is afraid of getting fat. After eating only two or three bites per meal, she stopped using chopsticks. She doesn't eat the dishes cooked by her mother, but she always likes to drink a bottle of iced milk tea after breakfast or school every morning until her sister can't stand it, pointing to a small square nutrition label on the milk tea bottle and telling her,
In recent years, China people's health awareness has been improved, and they have begun to care about whether they have taken in too many calories and whether the nutrients are balanced. Therefore, the Department of Health stipulates that packaged food should have obvious nutrition labels on the packaging containers, which can also be used as a reference for consumers to buy.
In recent years, all kinds of packaged foods are required to be labeled in stages. At present, baked goods such as dairy products, beverages, rice flour, bread and cakes, canned food, dehydrated pickled food, frozen food, seasonings and so on are packaged. It has been gradually included in the scope of nutrition labeling.
Five items of nutrition label
Although there is only a small box, there is a lot of information behind the nutrition label. At present, nutrition labels require manufacturers to indicate the contents of five major items, such as calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and sodium. Chen Xinghe, deputy director of the Nutrition Group of Dong Shi Foundation, analyzed as follows:
1, calories: marked with "calories". Heat is the energy source of limb activity, heart beating and human life support. Heat mainly comes from protein, fat and carbohydrate, and they all have their own functions.
2. Fat: marked with "gram". Fat is divided into saturated fat and trans fat. Many people are afraid of obesity and hope that the less fat, the better. However, fat also plays an indispensable role in human body, which can provide essential fatty acids for growth and skin health. Lipids on the body can also keep body temperature and protect internal organs from impact and impact.
The sources of fat mainly come from vegetable oils such as peanut oil and salad oil, and animal oils such as butter and lard. Among the best oils, there are more vegetable oils with unsaturated fatty acids than animal oils with saturated fatty acids, and the intake of trans fats is reduced. Trans fats come from margarine, ghee and various fried foods. If taken in excess, it will affect the metabolism of essential fatty acids and increase the content of low-density cholesterol in blood, which may cause arteriosclerosis and other problems.
3. protein: It is marked with "gram". Protein is the main component of human body, which has the functions of repairing tissues, maintaining acid-base balance and maintaining immunity. Its sources mainly come from eggs, beans and fish.
4. Carbohydrate: marked with "gram". It can also be divided into details such as starch, dietary fiber and sugar. It can provide heat and protect the protein of body tissues from being decomposed and consumed. However, sugar is a delicate carbohydrate, and its nutrients are lost, leaving only high calories. Therefore, it should be noted that the sugar in food should not be too high, otherwise it will easily lead to tooth decay and obesity. In addition, although dietary fiber can promote gastrointestinal peristalsis, the more the better. If there is no proper amount of water, it may cause constipation.
5. Sodium: in grams. Sodium is an electrolyte, which can maintain the conduction function of neuromuscular and regulate the acid-base balance in the body. The main source is salt, as well as other seasonings and processed foods. However, the recommended intake of sodium is 2400 mg per day. Excessive sodium intake may lead to high blood pressure. Biscuits, instant noodles and brewing soup in the market have high sodium content, while people in China generally emphasize the taste, eat too salty, and pay more attention to sodium intake.
Should not be particularly dependent on a certain nutrient.
Chen Xinghe believes that people who know how to read nutrition labels can also remind themselves to eat more yuan and balance. The Ministry of Health suggested that the proportion of calories from protein, fat and carbohydrate in total calories was about 65,438+00 ~ 65,438+04%, 20~30% and 58~68%, respectively, and should not depend on some nutrients. Otherwise, excessive intake of protein will increase the metabolic burden of liver and kidney, increase the intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, and increase the probability of cardiovascular disease.
As for excessive carbohydrate intake, calories will increase. When it exceeds the amount needed by the body, it will be converted into fat and stored in the body, which may lead to weight gain. If you eat too much fat, especially saturated fatty acids, it will increase the concentration of cholesterol in the blood, which is also one of the factors that trigger the cardiovascular crisis in China.
Because of protein and carbohydrates, it can provide 4 calories per gram and 9 calories per gram of fat. This is how the calories on the nutrition label are calculated. For example, a box of tofu contains 5. 1 g of protein, 2. 1 g of fat and 2.4 g of carbohydrate, and the calorie per 100 g is 5.1x 4+2.1g. Another example is a sports drink. Every100g contains 6.8g of carbohydrate, and the calorie per100g is 6.8x4=27.2 calories.
In addition, in order to facilitate people's more accurate calculation, some manufacturers label it as the percentage of daily nutrient intake provided by each packaged food. At this time, the unified method is based on 2000 calories, 60 grams of protein, 55 grams of fat, 18 grams of saturated fat, 320 grams of carbohydrates and 2400 milligrams of sodium. The actual calories needed by each person should be estimated according to the individual's activity needs.
Nutrition label is a good helper to lose weight.
Chen Xinghe also said that in addition to the five nutrition labeling items, if the products additionally declare the words "high calcium", "high iron", "high dietary fiber" and "low cholesterol", the production enterprises must also provide the labels of related nutrients. In addition, manufacturers can also voluntarily label other nutrients contained in products, such as soybean isoflavones and lecithin.
Because many civilized diseases are related to excessive appetite, Chen Xinghe said that nutrition labels are like "identity cards" for packaged food. Through the nutrition label, we can estimate the daily intake of nutrients, adjust the daily intake for the general public, make their nutrition more balanced, and compare the nutritional value of different foods. For people who need to lose weight or patients who need to control their diet due to diseases such as diabetes, the information revealed by small nutrition labels is even more important.
For example, patients with hypertension must reduce sodium in their diet. Many studies have confirmed that high blood pressure is related to eating too salty. It is recommended that the daily salt should not exceed 6 grams. Because 1 g salt contains 400 mg of sodium, that is, the sodium content does not exceed 2400 mg. Therefore, if you only reduce salt for dinner, you usually like to eat potato chips with high sodium content as snacks or drink too many sports drinks.
There are still many people clamoring for losing weight all day, and they always eat like kittens at dinner. However, I didn't expect to open a pack of biscuits in afternoon tea, and the calories with a can of sugary drinks were amazing. Although dinner seems less, the calories brought by snacks will make the weight loss plan fail.
If you know the nutrition label, people who want to control their weight will find that the calorie difference between low-fat and full-fat milk is not small when purchasing milk. Chen Xinghe also gave an example. When drinking sugary drinks, you can also choose healthier products by the sugar content on the nutrition label. In addition, before eating snacks, you can "think twice" by reading the nutrition label. It may take half an hour for the excess calories you eat to run out.
Interpret signs and beware of digital traps.
Although more and more people attach importance to nutrition labels, we should also be careful of "traps" when interpreting nutrition labels. Because of the regulations of the Department of Health, when labeling nutrition, solids can be100g or grams, and liquids can be counted as100ml or milliliter. At this time, it is necessary to see the total number of parts contained in the food clearly in order to calculate the correct nutritional content.
Chen Xinghe said that this is also the most common mistake people make when reading nutrition labels. For example, a bottle of milk tea is 400 ml, and the nutrition label "100 ml stands for 50 calories". Many people often mistakenly think that the calorie is only 50 calories, but in fact, drinking a whole bottle of milk tea in one breath should be 200 calories.
Chen Xinghe also said that he had heard that some people, although haggling over calories, did not see clearly that the aluminum foil bag with a capacity of 300 ml was "30 calories per100 ml". Obviously, I drank 90 calories, but I mistakenly thought that I only drank 30 calories. I made a mistake in my weight control plan and even took in 1 times more calories.
Therefore, it is suggested that in order to understand the nutrition label, we should first look at the total capacity, and then calculate the reference value of nutritional components and the number of copies contained in the product. Sometimes we need to do some "math problems" to get the correct answer. For example, the nutrition label of 1 biscuit, 25g is 1 serving, and each serving has 120 calories. If the total weight is125g, it means that the whole biscuit is 5 servings and the calories should be 600 calories.
The more nutrition, the better
After learning to read nutrition labels, although they can be used as an auxiliary means to buy products, people should also break the myth that "the more nutrition, the better". In particular, many people take extra nutritional supplements such as capsules and buccal tablets, which is not necessarily a lack of related nutrients. Therefore, Chen Xinghe also reminded that excessive vitamin C may produce stones, and excessive phosphorus may lead to calcium malabsorption. Too much nutrition is not only harmful to health, but also increases the burden on the body.
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