Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Chapter 3 Nutrition 93
Ingredients in Foods
The information on a food label also includes all the ingredi-
ents that were used to make that food. These ingredients are listed
in the order in which they contribute weight to a given product.
Ingredients that are listed fi rst make up a greater amount of the
fi nal product by weight than ingredients that appear near the end
of the list. In other words, the closer the ingredient appears to the
top of the list, the more of that ingredient in the food (Figure 3.17).
Ingredient Names. Food manufacturers often list ingredients
in somewhat confusing ways. This makes it harder to determine
exactly what foods are in the product. For example, many different
ingredients can add sugar to a food product. All of the following
terms can be used to describe sugar that has been added to a food:
corn syrup, corn sweetener, fructose, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup,
lactose, maltose, sucrose, malt syrup, molasses, honey, glucose, and fruit
juice concentrate. If you see any of these in the ingredient list, you
know the food contains added sugars.
Let’s take a real-world example to illustrate how different
terms for sugar can be used in describing ingredients in a given
product. One of the best-selling cereals in the United States lists
the following fi ve ingredients fi rst on its nutrition label:
whole-grain oats
sugar
modifi ed corn starch
honey
brown sugar syrup
As you can see from this list, four of the top fi ve ingredients are a type
of sugar. Can you guess what the sixth ingredient is? Salt. Do you think
you might be able to fi nd a more nutrient-dense cereal?
Food Additives. Often food manufacturers add sugar, salt, or other
ingredients to extend their product’s shelf life, improve its fl avor, and for
other reasons. Substances that are added to food products to cause desired
changes are called food additives.
The government regulates food additives and maintains a list of food
additives that have proven to be safe. Additives on this list are generally
recognized as safe (GRAS). Food manufacturers must obtain approval
from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use substances that do
not appear on the GRAS list.
Food additives must be included in the product’s ingredient list. If your
goal is to avoid specifi c food additives, you can fi nd them on the ingredient
lists on food labels.
Claims on Labels
Sometimes food labels describe a particular food using a specifi c claim
about its health benefi ts. For example, a label might describe a food as “low
Food labels contain a great
deal of information. Do you
take advantage of having
this information at your
fi ngertips? Why or why not?
Figure 3.17
food additives
substances added to food
products to cause desired
changes
generally recognized as
safe (GRAS)
food additives that have been
studied and are considered
harmless by the government
Food and Drug
Administration (FDA)
a government agency that
regulates medications,
biological products, medical
devices, food supply,
cosmetics, and radiation-
emitting products
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