How to read a nutrition label pdf?

Seven lines, three ratios: why the British panel is read faster as ratios than as numbers, and the first two, sugars as a share of carbohydrate and saturates as a share of fat, with what each separates

How to read a nutrition label is a question that ends in pdf because the person asking wants something short enough to save and keep, a page rather than a lesson, and this page is written to be that: the British nutrition panel read as three ratios, which fit on a card and sort any food faster than the seven numbers the panel prints. The panel is a legal document in a fixed order, energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt, per 100 grams or millilitres, and the reason it can be read as ratios is that the law prints two of its lines inside two others: saturates is printed as a part of fat, of which saturates, and sugars as a part of carbohydrate, of which sugars, and protein is printed beside energy. Those pairs are ratios waiting to be taken, and a person who takes them has read the panel in the way the panel's own structure suggests.

The first ratio is sugars over carbohydrate. The carbohydrate line counts everything, starch, sugars and the sugars that come from fruit and milk, and the sugars line counts the sugars within it, so dividing sugars by carbohydrate gives the share of the carbohydrate that is sugar. A porridge oat has a carbohydrate line in the sixties and a sugars line near one, a share near zero, and its carbohydrate is starch that digests slowly; a cereal bar can have the same carbohydrate line with a sugars line in the thirties, a share near half, and its carbohydrate is mostly sugar. The two foods look alike on the carbohydrate line and nothing alike on the ratio, which is why the ratio is taken rather than the line read; the sugars threshold per 100 grams on the front-of-pack scheme adds the absolute check, with a food above the high threshold red whatever its ratio.

The second ratio is saturates over fat. The fat line counts all fat and the saturates line counts the saturated part, so dividing gives the share that is saturated, and the share separates fats that the same fat line lumps together: an olive oil and a butter both have fat lines in the eighties or above, and the oil's saturates share is around a seventh while the butter's is around two thirds. A nut, an oily fish and a cheese each carry fat, and the ratio says which kind; for a person who lifts and eats a lot, the ratio is what decides whether the fat line is a reason to buy or a reason not to, with the saturates threshold per 100 grams on the front-of-pack scheme again as the absolute check.

Two ratios taken, with the third, protein per 100 kilocalories, salt read on its own, the second and third reads, the card itself, the worked example as a different document and the verdict in the next section.

The third ratio, protein per 100 kilocalories, which decides what counts as a protein food; salt read on its own; the second and third reads; the one-page card; the worked example as the different document; and the verdict

The third ratio is protein per 100 kilocalories, and for a person who lifts it is the one that matters most, because it answers the question the front of the pack is designed to confuse: whether a food is a protein food. The protein line is in grams and the energy line in kilocalories, and dividing protein by kilocalories and multiplying by one hundred gives grams of protein per 100 kilocalories, which is the share of the food's energy that arrives as protein. A chicken breast is around twenty-five grams per 100 kilocalories, a tin of tuna similar, a plain yoghurt around ten, an egg around nine, a bowl of lentils around seven, a slice of bread around three, a cereal bar around two, and a bag of crisps around one; the protein bar with the word protein in letters taller than its panel can be anywhere from five to fifteen, and the ratio is how a buyer finds out. A rule of thumb for a lifter's count: a food above about ten grams per 100 kilocalories is carrying its weight as a protein food, a food between about four and ten is a mixed food that contributes, and a food below about two is not a protein food whatever the front says, which is the rule the dose-response work on daily protein makes useful, since the total has to come from somewhere and the ratio says where it can.

Salt is read on its own, because it has no partner line to make a ratio with: the figure per 100 grams is read against the front-of-pack thresholds, high above one and a half grams, low below point three, and a food's salt is judged absolutely rather than as a share of anything. The second read, after the three ratios and salt, is the per-portion column and the colours, which are optional additions: the per-portion column turns a per-100-gram ratio into an amount eaten, and the colours apply the thresholds for the buyer. The third read is the ingredients list in descending order of weight, which explains the ratios, a high sugars share usually having sugar or a syrup near the top, and the allergens emphasised within it.

The card the question asked for, in one paragraph that can be copied: sugars divided by carbohydrate, low is starch, high is sugar; saturates divided by fat, low is unsaturated, high is saturated; protein divided by kilocalories times one hundred, above ten is a protein food, below two is not; salt per 100 grams, above one and a half is high, below point three is low; then the per-portion column, the colours, the ingredients in order, the allergens. Seven lines, three ratios, one salt figure, three further reads, and any British food panel is read in under a minute.

The worked example is the different document and is read as one: {FL} is a food supplement, carries no seven-line nutrition panel because none is required and none would mean anything for two capsules, and has no ratios to take; it declares what a supplement must, magnesium at 300mg elemental per daily dose of two capsules at 80% of the nutrient reference value, from 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate, with an ingredients list of magnesium bisglycinate, the HPMC capsule shell and rice flour, and is read by the three sums of the previous page rather than the three ratios of this one. It is batch tested for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium, UK made under GMP and BRC, 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day. The full label breakdown is here.

The verdict: read the British nutrition panel as three ratios, sugars over carbohydrate, saturates over fat and protein per 100 kilocalories, each made from two numbers the law prints next to each other, and read salt on its own against its threshold. The ratios sort an oat from a cereal bar, an oil from a butter and a protein food from a food with protein on the front, which the seven numbers alone do not. Then the per-portion column and the colours, then the ingredients and the allergens, and a supplement label is a different document read by different sums.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

How do I read a British nutrition label?

As three ratios and one figure, using only what the panel prints per 100 grams: sugars divided by carbohydrate, where low means the carbohydrate is starch and fibre and high means it is sugar; saturates divided by fat, where low means unsaturated and high means saturated; protein in grams divided by kilocalories and multiplied by one hundred, where above about ten marks a protein food and below two marks a food that is not one whatever the front says; and salt per 100 grams against the front-of-pack thresholds, high above one and a half grams and low below point three; then the optional per-portion column and colours, then the ingredients in descending order and the allergens.

What is a good protein to calorie ratio?

For a person counting protein toward a daily total, above about ten grams of protein per 100 kilocalories marks a food that carries its weight as a protein food, which is where chicken, tuna, white fish, plain yoghurt and cottage cheese sit, with eggs and lentils a little below and contributing, bread around three, cereal bars around two and crisps around one; the ratio is taken by dividing the protein line by the energy line in kilocalories and multiplying by one hundred, and it is the honest test of a protein bar, which can sit anywhere from five to fifteen behind a front that says protein in large letters.

How do I tell if a food is high in sugar from the label?

Two ways that are read together: the ratio, sugars divided by carbohydrate, which says what share of the food's carbohydrate is sugar and separates an oat with a share near zero from a cereal bar with a share near half though their carbohydrate lines match; and the absolute figure, sugars per 100 grams against the front-of-pack threshold, above which a food is high in sugar whatever its ratio; the ingredients list in descending order then explains it, with sugar, a syrup or a juice concentrate near the top, and the per-portion column turns the per-100-gram figure into the amount actually eaten.

Why are nutrition labels per 100g instead of per serving?

Because per 100 grams is the basis the law requires and the only one that cannot be gamed by the portion: a per-100-gram figure makes two foods comparable regardless of serving size and however the manufacturer defines a serving, and the ratios on this page work on per-100-gram figures without any adjustment, since dividing one line by another cancels the basis; the per-portion column is optional and useful for turning a ratio into an amount eaten, and the front-of-pack colours use thresholds set per 100 grams for the same reason the law does.

Can I read this site's magnesium label the same way?

No, because a supplement label is a different document: it carries no seven-line nutrition panel, since none is required and none would mean anything for two capsules, and so has no ratios to take; it declares what the supplement rules require, magnesium at 300mg elemental per daily dose of two capsules at 80% of the nutrient reference value from 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate, with an ingredients list of magnesium bisglycinate, the HPMC capsule shell and rice flour, and it is read by three sums instead, days and pence, elemental over compound, and the reference value back-check; it is batch tested for four metals, UK made under GMP and BRC, 180 for £19.99 at 22p a day.

Sources

1. The retained Food Information to Consumers regulation: the mandatory nutrition declaration for foods, its fixed order of energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt per 100g, and its rules on portion information, with supplements declaring nutrients per daily dose against nutrient reference values. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/contents
2. The UK front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme: voluntary colour-coded labels for fat, saturates, sugars and salt per portion, with the mandatory per-100g declaration remaining the comparison basis. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/front-of-pack-nutrition-labelling-guidance
3. Morton RW, et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2018;52(6):376-384: protein supplementation added around 0.3kg of fat-free mass, with the benefit plateauing at total intakes around 1.6g per kilogram a day. PubMed record
4. The UK and EU guidance on tolerances for nutrition declarations: declared values may deviate from measured values within published tolerance bands, macronutrients by roughly 20% and vitamins and minerals in food supplements by roughly 20% below to 50% above the declared value, with rounding rules for each nutrient. https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/nutrition-labelling

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