All ingredients in a food product must be listed in descending order by weight. A quick glance at the first three items on an ingredient list will tell usually you what the product is mostly made up of and help you make healthier choices. For example, if you’re looking at a cereal box and the second ingredient is sugar, then it’s a bad choice! Sugar should be further down the list.

Also be aware that fat, salt and sugar are often identified in the ingredient listing under other names. For example:

Fat - vegetable oil, animal fat, lard, vegetable/animal shortening, coconut oil, butterfat, whole milk solids, solidified coconut oil, tallow

Sugar - sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, dextrose, corn syrup, honey, malt, malted barley, molasses and sorbitol

Salt - rock salt, vegetable salt, baking soda, baking powder, sodium bicarbonate, monosodium glutamate (MSG), yeast extract

The Nutriton Facts label shows the amount of calories, protein, fat, carbohydrate, fiber, sodium and potassium in an average serving of the food as well as the percentage daily value.

Daily values are based on reference 2000 calorie and 2500 calorie diets. These are used to represent an average for healthy people: 2000 calories for healthy women, young children or older adults and 2500 calories for men, pregnant women and teenagers.

At the bottom of the label, the total recommended daily values appear for other nutrients so you can get an idea of the total amounts required.