3 Tips to Decode Nutritional Tables
Who hasn’t ever turned a product over in a supermarket to look at the small nutritional values table without really knowing how to interpret it? We are all familiar with terms like calories, sugar, or fats, but do you really know what they mean?
Nutritional tables on food are printed on all product packaging. Their purpose is to help consumers understand the product: its benefits or, conversely, its harmful effects on our health. Unfortunately, very few people truly know the useful information on these tables, others struggle to decode them, or don’t read them at all. Biscuiterie de Provence offers you 3 tips to apply in order to decode these tables.
The nutritional declaration has been mandatory on pre-packaged products since 2016, and it corresponds to the nutritional values of the products, generally presented in table form. It is important to understand these tables to analyze foodstuffs and know whether they promote our good health or not.
#1 Understand the Table
Certain information must be mandatorily mentioned. They relate to the energy content and nutrients in the product:
- Energy value, indicated as “Energy” on our packaging, measured in kilojoules and kilocalories.
- Fat content (fat matter), including saturated fatty acids.
- Carbohydrate content, measured in grams, also including the sugar content of the product.
- Protein content, in grams.
- Salt content, indicated in grams.
Other data are voluntarily indicated by the manufacturer. Let’s take the example of the organic soft Almond & Orange cake from our Biscuiterie de Provence brand.
This is a product rich in Magnesium, Vitamin E, and dietary fibers, so this cake has health benefits! Moreover, it contains a significant amount of minerals provided by the oranges in the cake. We therefore chose to include all these elements in the nutritional table.
#2 Know the Values Not to Exceed
- Energy value
This is the amount of energy that can be obtained from the food through digestion. It can be indicated in kilocalories or kilojoules. The new unit of energy used by the body or contained in food is the joule (kilojoules), but the kilocalorie is still widely used and common.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), a man should consume about 2500 kcal per day, compared to 2000 kcal for a woman. This recommended amount obviously varies depending on age and physical activity.
- Fat quantity
It includes saturated and unsaturated lipids, which are everyday fats. Regardless of the type of lipid, an adult with moderate activity should limit themselves to 70 grams daily. Our Almond and Orange cake contains 7.0g of fat per 100 grams serving. Industrial cakes contain about 26 grams per 100 grams serving.
- Carbohydrates
They provide energy to the body and are essential in our diet. It is recommended to consume 260 grams of carbohydrates daily. Although they are good for health, consuming too many carbohydrates can lead to weight gain. Indeed, if consumed in excess, they are stored as fat in adipose tissues. For comparison, our soft Almond & Orange cake contains 42 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, while industrial cakes contain about 72 grams.
The Almond & Orange cake has 272 kcal per 100g. It is important to know that industrial cakes, often favored by younger people among us, can contain more than 500 kcal per 100 grams.
- Proteins
They contribute notably to the renewal of our muscle tissues, skin, bone matrix... A person’s needs are about 0.8 grams per kilo of body weight per day.
Proteins are mainly found in animal-origin foods as well as legumes.
At Biscuiterie de Provence, we use good free-range eggs in each of our recipes, but the significant amount of protein found in most of our products comes from almonds, a staple at Biscuiterie de Provence for 6 generations. Almonds (internal link: “dried fruits” page) are a nut with a protein content much higher than others, at 22.60g per 100g. Eggs, known for their high protein content, contain only 13 grams of protein. For a second comparison, walnuts contain 15 grams per 100 grams.
- Salt
The less salt, the better!
The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends not consuming more than 5g of salt per day. When salt is indicated as “sodium,” the limit is 2g.
Used as a flavor enhancer, salt is widely used in industrial cakes. The Almond & Orange cake contains only 0.13g of salt compared to nearly 0.60g for similar cakes from competing brands.
#3 Read Between the Lines
When non-mandatory elements are mentioned, it is often because they have benefits to offer us.
At Biscuiterie de Provence, we mention the amount of dietary fibers. These plant-based substances promote intestinal transit. Almonds, a historic product of the Biscuiterie, have a high fiber concentration. They are traditionally found in our recipes for Soft Cakes, Crunchy Biscuits, and Macarons, where they represent one of the main ingredients of these tasty biscuits.
We want to maintain this close relationship with almonds, which is why you also find them in many of our recipes such as Croquets and even our snack biscuits like Cookies and Shortbreads.
Ultimately, nutritional tables allow you to decode a product. You just need to follow the recommendations previously stated for each nutritional value. Highly industrialized products generally contain a large amount of salt and fats. When you buy pre-packaged products, it is essential to pay attention to this.
At the Fabrique, we are committed to baking gourmet specialties with always short ingredient lists for recipes like homemade. No preservatives, artificial flavors, palm oil, or other additives—you will only find products with good ingredients 100% from natural origins and as locally sourced as possible (close to our Fabrique). Because even if we offer you rich products, their quality ingredients will bring benefits to your health! Enjoying yourself, in moderation, for delicious moments from aperitif to dessert is a big YES!
