Article Summary: Reading Food Labels!

Source: KidsHealth. (2013). Figuring out food labels . Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/labels.html

Summary of Article: The body needs certain nutrients to stay healthy and to grow; food labels can be helpful to keep track of the nutrients consumed. The way nutrients can be found is through grams, which is g and milligrams which is mg. Food labels are difficult to measure for feeding children, because the food labels are for adults needs. Children need either more or less of calories and nutrients; this depends on the child age, gender and their activity level. Look at ingredients to check what is in it and the amount, the amount is going to be a lot in the food; cut down foods with a lot of sugar, such as, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sucrose, and glucose. Labels also tell the serving size for children; for instance if it says 15 servings it means it serves 30 people. Food labels provide information, such as total fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, protein, vitamin A and vitamin C, calcium, iron, calories. This let people read the nutrients needed and what should be lessened in a diet.