How Should You Check Nutrition Labels?
A significant amount of the American diet is made up of processed foods, and some processed foods are much higher in sodium and sugar than others. Thankfully, there’s a lot that a food’s nutrition label can tell you in a matter of seconds if you use the 5/20 rule, one dietician says.
“You can use the daily value,” says Jinan Banna, registered dietitian and professor of nutrition at the University of Hawaii. “That’s an easy way to know whether the food is generally high or low in a particular nutrient.”
The 5/20 method requires checking the daily value percentages of nutrients like saturated fat, sodium and sugars, Banna tells CNBC Make It. “The percent Daily Value shows how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a total daily diet,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Excerpted from NBC New York
