How to read a nutrition label | Guides

The ingredients list: where to look first

By law, ingredients are listed in descending order by weight: what appears first is present in the greatest amount. This is the most important starting point on any label.

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The first ingredient matters most
If the first ingredient is "sugar", "glucose syrup" or "palm oil", the product is built around that element. In chocolate cookies, the chocolate often shows up only in fourth or fifth place.
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List length = degree of processing
Homemade bread: flour, water, salt, yeast — 4 ingredients. Industrial supermarket bread: can have 15 or more. Length isn't a crime in itself, but it's always a signal worth considering.
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Look for names that are hard to pronounce
Terms like "modified starch", "mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids", "carboxymethyl cellulose" or "hydrogenated" indicate industrially derived ingredients, typically absent from home recipes.

Practical rule: if you couldn't find all the ingredients at a regular grocery store, the product is probably highly processed.

The nutrition table: what to look at (and what to ignore)

The nutrition table is mandatory on almost all packaged products. It contains a lot of information, but just three values are enough to get the overall picture.

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Sugars: less than 5 g per 100 g

Values below 5 g/100 g indicate a product with low sugar content. Between 5 and 22.5 g is medium; above 22.5 g is high. For drinks, the "low" threshold is 2.5 g/100 ml.

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Salt: less than 0.3 g per 100 g

Below 0.3 g/100 g is low, above 1.5 g/100 g is high. Many savory products like crackers, cheeses and cured meats easily exceed 1 g/100 g. Note: sodium on the label must be multiplied by 2.5 to get the salt content.

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Saturated fat: less than 1.5 g per 100 g

This is the type of fat to monitor most carefully. Values above 5 g/100 g are considered high. Industrial baked goods, snack cakes and ready meals often exceed this by a wide margin.

Servings vs 100 g: the trick that confuses everyone

Nutritional values are often shown both per 100 g and "per serving". Companies tend to highlight the per-serving values, which look lower — but serving sizes are frequently underestimated.

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Breakfast cereals: stated serving 30 g, but you eat 60
If the pack declares 10 g of sugar per serving (30 g) and you eat a 60 g bowl, you're actually taking in 20 g of sugar — nearly half the recommended daily limit.
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Always use per-100-g values for comparison
Want to figure out which of two pasta brands is better? Compare the values per 100 g, not per serving (which varies from brand to brand). It's the only fair comparison.
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Calculate your actual serving
Check how many servings are in the package. If a bag of crisps contains "3.5 servings" and you eat the whole thing, multiply all the values by 3.5.

Hidden salt: where it really lurks

Salt isn't only found in savory products. In many apparently sweet foods — cookies, cereals, bread — the salt content is surprisingly high.

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Bread and baked goods

Two slices of industrial bread can contain 0.5–0.8 g of salt. Multiplied across 4 meals a day, that's already half the recommended daily limit (5 g).

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Breakfast cereals

Even the "healthy" and "wholegrain" varieties can contain 0.8–1.2 g of salt per 100 g — more than many savory snacks. Reading the label here is almost always a surprise.

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Sauces, condiments and dressings

Ready-made tomato sauce, mayonnaise, salad dressings: these can contain between 1 and 3 g of salt per 100 g. One of the cases where homemade always beats store-bought.

Important note: on the label you may find "sodium" instead of "salt". To convert: salt = sodium × 2.5.

Nutrition claims: what they really mean

Nutrition claims are phrases like "fat-free", "light", "high in fibre" or "0% sugar" that appear prominently on the front of the pack. They are regulated by law, but they can still be misleading.

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"No added sugars"

Doesn't mean sugar-free: it may still contain naturally occurring sugars (fructose from juice, lactose)
May contain artificial sweeteners or polyols
Does not mean "healthy" or "suitable for diabetics"

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"Light" or "reduced"

Means reduced by 30% compared to the reference product
If the original product was high in calories, the light version still has plenty
Often, the removed fat is replaced with sugar or thickeners

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"High in fibre" or "source of protein"

Requires minimum legal thresholds (fibre: at least 6 g/100 g; protein: at least 20% of calories)
Says nothing about the other ingredients: a "high-fibre" cookie can still contain a lot of sugar
Always read the ingredients list, not just the claim

Quick checklist to use at the supermarket

You don't have to do everything every time. Start with the quickest checks and add the others as they become habit.

1
Look at the first ingredient
Is it a real food (flour, milk, tomato, oil)? Good. Is it a sugar, syrup or processed fat? Consider whether you have an alternative.
2
Count the ingredients
Fewer than 5: great. 5 to 10: acceptable. More than 10–12: take a closer look at what they are.
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Check the E codes
Few or none? Good. Many (especially colorings, sweeteners, preservatives)? The product is highly processed.
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Check salt and sugars per 100 g
Salt above 1.5 g/100 g = high. Sugars above 22.5 g/100 g = high. Saturated fat above 5 g/100 g = high.
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Ignore the big claims on the front
"Wholegrain", "natural", "0% fat" almost never mean what they appear to. Always trust the ingredients list, not the promotional text.

The simplest trick of all: if you recognise every ingredient and could cook with them at home, you're on the right track. If not, you've found an ultra-processed product.