The CGM Blog
How to Read a Food Label: A Guide for People Living with Diabetes
The content in this article should not be taken as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider regarding your individual health needs.
Learning how to read a food label can help you make more informed choices about what you or your child eats to support your diabetes management. Product packages have a lot of information on them and reading food labels can feel confusing at first. Once you know what to look for, you’ll be able to find the information that’s relevant to you at a glance and quickly compare products when you’re at the grocery store.
How to Read a Food Label on Canadian Products
The Canadian government requires companies to put a Nutrition Facts table and a list of ingredients on most prepackaged foods and some types of prepared foods. Any product you take off the shelf should provide the same information. To help you get the insights you need to ensure what you’re eating fits into your diabetes management plan , here’s an overview of how to read a food label in Canada.
Nutrition Facts Table
The Nutrition Facts table shows the amount of important nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that the food contains. You can use the Nutrition Facts table to understand how the food might affect your blood sugar management and overall health.
(Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/nutrition-labelling/nutrition-facts-tables.html)
Serving Size: This measurement refers to the amount of the product that you’d typically eat in one sitting, but it is not a recommendation of how much you should eat. It may be written as a quantity (e.g., per 12 crackers, per 4 cookies) or a household measurement (e.g., per ½ cup, per 1 cup) alongside a volume or weight measurement in millilitres (mL) or grams (g).1
Calories: This number shows how many total calories are in each serving.
% Daily Value: Health Canada has created general recommendations around how much of each nutrient we should eat each day. The % Daily Value numbers tell you what percentage of the total recommended amount of each nutrient the food contains. For example, if a label shows 11% next to fibre, it means that it contains 11% of the total amount of fibre you should be consuming each day. Note that it doesn’t mean that the food contains 11% fibre.2
A % Daily Value of 5% or less is considered to be a little bit of that nutrient, while a % Daily Value greater than 15% is considered to be a lot.3
Fat: This section shows how many grams of fat are in the food, breaking down how much saturated fat and trans fat the food contains. These fats are specifically listed because eating too much of them can contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease.
Carbohydrate: This section shows how many grams of carbohydrates, or carbs, are in the food and breaks down how many grams of fibre and sugar the food contains.
Protein: This section lists how many grams of protein a food has. There is no % Daily Value listed for protein because most people eating a balanced diet get enough.4
Cholesterol: This section shows how many milligrams (mg) of cholesterol the food contains. Providing the % Daily Value of cholesterol is optional for companies, so you may not always see it listed.5
Sodium: This section shows how many milligrams of sodium, or salt, the food contains.
Vitamins and Minerals: This section shows which vitamins and minerals, also known as micronutrients, that the food contains. Vitamins and minerals occur naturally in plant- and animal-based foods.6 Some foods also have vitamins and minerals added to them, which is called fortification.7
Using the Nutrition Facts Table to Make Healthy Choices
Using the Nutrition Facts table can help you determine whether a food fits into your diabetes management plan and nutrition goals. When you’re learning how to read a food label, you might be tempted to focus only on the calorie count listed at the top of the table. However, looking at the other nutrients can give you a more well-rounded understanding of how nourishing the food is going to be and whether it will meet your dietary needs. You can work with a diabetes dietitian to get personalized nutrition guidance and learn more about what you should look for when you’re reading food labels.
Health Canada generally recommends paying attention to the amount of sugar, sodium, and saturated fat in the food you’re choosing and suggests selecting foods that have lower levels of these nutrients.3 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that people living with diabetes might want to prioritize foods with a higher % Daily Value of fibre. The CDC notes that eating fibre may help keep blood sugar levels stable, reduce blood sugar spikes, make you feel full for longer, and support a healthy gut microbiome.8 Fibre can also prevent the body from absorbing some fats and cholesterol, which can reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications like heart disease.8 Most people get enough protein in their diet, but if you’re curious about whether you’re getting the right amount, Health Canada generally recommends that adults 19 years of age and older eat between 46g and 56g of protein each day.9 Protein works to build muscle and repair damage in the body to support your overall health.10
Your doctor or diabetes dietitian may recommend counting carbs as part of your diabetes self-management plan. When you’re reading food labels you can check the carb count, fibre, and sugar content listed in the Nutrition Facts table to get the information you need. Counting carbs can help you calculate how much insulin you should give yourself. For those who do not use insulin therapy, counting carbs and being aware of sugar content can support glucose management and help reduce glucose spikes.11,12 Diabetes Canada notes that because fibre does not spike blood sugar, the grams of fibre in a food should be subtracted from the total grams of carbs listed to get the final carb count.13 You can learn a bit more about how to count carbs with this handy guide from Diabetes Canada.
Ingredients List
In Canada, packaged foods that contain more than one ingredient are required to have a list of ingredients. This list is usually printed under or beside the Nutrition Facts table. All of the ingredients are listed by weight.14 This means that the product has more of the ingredients listed at the beginning of the list and less of the ingredients listed at the end.
(https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/nutrition-labelling/ingredient-list.html)
Reading food labels gives you insight into what the food is made of and where the key nutrients found in the Nutrition Facts table come from. For example, if sugar content is listed in the table, you can see whether the brand used fruit juice or corn syrup to sweeten the product.
You may see ingredients with names you don’t recognize, like xanthan gum, soy lecithin, carrageenan, citric acid, or sodium benzoate.15,18 Not all ingredients with technical-sounding names are artificial or “bad” for you. For example, carrageenan comes from seaweed and is used as a thickening agent to make foods creamy or give candies a gummy texture.17 Talk to your doctor or diabetes dietitian about whether there are certain ingredients you should avoid.
Spot Sources of Added Sugar and Decode Statements Like “Sugar-Free”
Diabetes affects the way a sugar called glucose is regulated in the body. We get glucose from the foods we eat. It comes from carbs as well as foods that contain different types of sugars.18 People living with diabetes may need to prioritize looking at the amount of carbs and sugar on food labels to ensure that eating the food will support their glucose management.
(https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/sugars/using-food-labels.html)
When you’re reading food labels, be aware that sugar can show up in different ways. Sugar in packaged food is classified into two categories: naturally-occurring sugars and added sugars. Many raw ingredients have naturally-occurring sugars.19 For example, fruit contains a sugar called fructose in addition to glucose, and milk contains a sugar called lactose.20 Foods that contain starch, like bread, cereal, and potatoes, also naturally contain glucose.21,22 Naturally-occurring sugars might not always be listed as separate items on packaging ingredients.23
Added sugars are not a part of the raw ingredients in food products; they are separate ingredients used in the recipe the way you would add sugar in coffee or a cake you’re baking.20 You will likely see added sugars listed as ingredients on food packages.23 Though fructose and lactose are naturally-occuring sugars, they will be listed when they’re used as added sugars.23 Just a few names for added sugars to look out for on food labels include:19,20,24
- Sugar
- Raw sugar
- Malt sugar
- Honey
- Agave nectar
- Molasses
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Corn syrup or high-fructose corn syrup
- Cane syrup
- Words ending in “-ose,” including glucose, dextrose, maltose, lactose, fructose, and sucrose
You might also see statements or claims about sugar on the front of product packaging. If a product truly has no added sugar, companies are allowed to write "no sugar added", "no added sugar," or "without added sugar” on the package and in advertisements. If the wording on the package is slightly different from these statements, it’s likely that it does contain added sugar. Companies can also use the claim “low in sugars” for foods that have less than 5 g of sugar per serving or no more than 5 g of sugar per 100 g of the product.25 If you see the word “unsweetened” on a product, that means that it meets the criteria for “no sugar added” and does not contain any other sweeteners such as aspartame, stevia, or xylitol.25,26
Tip: If you want to see exactly what health claims like “high in protein,” “reduced fat,” or “lightly salted” mean, you can look them up in Health Canada’s list of all the claims that food and beverage companies are allowed to make on their products.
The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada generally recommends that, ideally, people aim to consume less than 5% total calories from added sugar per day—which is about 26g of sugar on a 2,000-calorie diet—and no more than 10% total calories from added sugar per day.19 It’s a good idea to talk to your doctor and diabetes care team about how sugar fits into your overall diabetes management plan. With their guidance, you can enjoy a few sweet treats every so often while sticking to your diabetes management plan.
Check Fat, Sodium, and Cholesterol Content for More Health Insights
Those living with diabetes may be at higher risk of experiencing cardiovascular complications like high blood pressure, atherosclerosis—or hardening of the arteries—heart attack, and stroke. Limiting how much sodium you consume can help lower the risk of experiencing high blood pressure that can lead to other cardiovascular complications down the road.27 One of the other ways to reduce the likelihood of experiencing these complications is to be strategic about the types of fats you’re eating and check for which fats are in a product when you’re reading food labels.28
Saturated and trans fats can increase the amount of unhealthy cholesterol, known as LDL cholesterol, and decrease the amount of healthy cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol.28,29 Some trans fats are naturally found in small amounts in red meats, dairy, and some oils, and it’s okay to consume trans fat from these sources in moderation.29 However, artificial trans fats have been found to increase the risk of heart disease, and in 2020, they were banned from the Canadian food supply.29
On the other hand, some fats provide important vitamins and can help reduce bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol.6The Mediterranean diet is high in healthy fats. Be sure to talk to your doctor or diabetes dietitian about the fats you can incorporate into your diet to support your cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health.
Recent research revealed that eating foods that contain cholesterol, known as dietary cholesterol, doesn’t have a major impact on the cholesterol levels in the body.28,30 However, foods that are high in dietary cholesterol tend to be high in saturated fats.30,31 In general, if you are focusing on improving your cholesterol, you should look at the fat content listed in the Nutrition Facts rather than the cholesterol content when reading food labels. People who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol, those who have a high LDL cholesterol level, and those living with overweight or obesity might want to check both the fat and cholesterol levels on food packages.30
Keeping Track of How Foods Affect Your Glucose with the Dexcom G7 CGM System
Learning how to read food labels is a great step towards taking control of your diabetes management. When you’re aware of what’s in your food, you’re empowered to make choices that support your glucose goals. Using a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system like the Dexcom G7 CGM System can make it a little easier to take the information you find on food packaging and determine if the foods you’re eating have a positive effect on your health.
Dexcom G7 can provide glucose readings in the palm of your hand on your compatible smartphone, smartwatch, or receiver.* This enables you to see how foods affect your glucose levels in real time when you eat them. Within the Dexcom G7 app, you can also log how many carbs your meal contained and make note of whether your meal contained ingredients like sugar, fat, fibre, and protein. Dexcom G7 also integrates with the RxFood app, enabling you to easily log the nutrients and carbs in your meals by taking photos of your plate. You can view logged meals right alongside your glucose data, giving you the chance to see how foods and their ingredients impact your glucose levels.
*Smart devices sold separately. For a list of compatible devices, please visit dexcom.com/compatibility.
- Nutrition labelling: Nutrition facts table. Government of Canada. Updated September 5, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/nutrition-labelling/nutrition-facts-tables.html
- Nutrition labelling – Table of daily values. Government of Canada. October 20, 2022. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/technical-documents-labelling-requirements/table-daily-values/nutrition-labelling.html
- How to use food labels to make healthier choices. Government of Canada. Updated June 5, 2023. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/use-food-labels-make-healthier-choices/
- Protein. Government of Canada. Updated January 22, 2019. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/protein.html
- Information within the Nutrition Facts table. Government of Canada. Updated March 18, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://inspection.canada.ca/en/food-labels/labelling/industry/nutrition-labelling/nutrition-facts-table
- Know the Difference: Vitamins vs. Minerals, and How Both Impact Your Health. Cleveland Clinic. September 15, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/essential-vitamins-and-minerals
- Frolova E. Fortification. World Health Organization. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.who.int/health-topics/food-fortification
- Fiber: The Carb That Helps You Manage Diabetes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. May 15, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/healthy-eating/fiber-helps-diabetes.html
- Dietary reference intakes tables: Reference values for macronutrients. Government of Canada. Updated December 18, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2024. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/dietary-reference-intakes/tables/reference-values-macronutrients.html
- Watts M. Protein and Diabetes. Diabetes.co.uk. Updated October 29, 2023. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/nutrition/protein-and-diabetes.html
- Understanding Carbs. American Diabetes Association. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://diabetes.org/food-nutrition/understanding-carbs
- Carbs 101. Diabetes Canada. Updated June 22, 2023. Accessed December 5, 2024. https://www.diabetes.ca/about-diabetes-(3)/impact-stories/carbs-101
- Carb counting for blood sugar control. Diabetes Canada. Accessed December 5, 2024. https://www.diabetes.ca/nutrition-fitness/healthy-eating/carb-counting
- Nutrition labelling: List of ingredients. Government of Canada. Updated July 5, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/nutrition-labelling/ingredient-list.html
- Should You Be Scared of Food Ingredients You Can’t Pronounce? Best Food Facts. September 25, 2017. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.bestfoodfacts.org/should-you-be-scared-of-food-ingredients-you-cant-pronounce/
- Philip H. Don’t eat it if you can’t pronounce it? Avoiding ‘scary-sounding ingredients’ won’t make you healthier. November 2, 2020. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2020/11/02/dont-eat-it-if-you-cant-pronounce-it-avoiding-scary-sounding-ingredients-wont-make-you-healthier/
- Carrageenan - an overview. Science Direct. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/carrageenan
- Hantzidiamantis J, et al. Physiology, Glucose. StatPearls. Updated April 30, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545201/
- Reduce sugar. The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/reduce-sugar
- Sugar 101. American Heart Association. Reviewed September 23, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sugar/sugar-101
- Starchy foods and carbohydrates. National Health Service. Reviewed March 15, 2023. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/starchy-foods-and-carbohydrates/
- Seung D. Amylose in starch: towards an understanding of biosynthesis, structure and function. New Phytol. 2020;228(5):1490-1504. doi:10.1111/nph.16858
- Sugars: Using the food labels. Government of Canada. Updated June 30, 2022. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/sugars/using-food-labels.html
- Carbohydrates. Cleveland Clinic. Reviewed August 3, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/15416-carbohydrates
- Criteria for the nutrient content claim no added sugars. Government of Canada. Updated March 18, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://inspection.canada.ca/en/food-labels/labelling/industry/nutrient-content/no-added-sugars
- List of Permitted Sweeteners (Lists of Permitted Food Additives). Government of Canada. Updated July 7, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-safety/food-additives/lists-permitted/9-sweeteners.html
- Reduce salt. The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/reduce-salt
- Fats and oils. The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/fats-and-oils
- The facts on trans fats. The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/the-facts-on-trans-fats
- Merschel M. Here's the latest on dietary cholesterol and how it fits in with a healthy diet. American Heart Association. August 25, 2023. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.heart.org/en/news/2023/08/25/heres-the-latest-on-dietary-cholesterol-and-how-it-fits-in-with-a-healthy-diet
- Eat to lower your cholesterol. The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/eat-to-lower-your-cholesterol