Guideline Daily Amounts & Understanding Labels
A balanced diet is simply a matter of eating the right things in the right amounts. And GDAs are simply a way of indicating whether you’re taking in too much, too little or just the right measures of crucial things like protein, fibre, carbohydrates and salt. (Yes, despite all the bad publicity, a certain amount of salt is essential to a healthy diet!)
Remember though, Guideline Daily Amounts are just that - a guide. Everybody’s requirements are different, so use your GDAs to help you plan your diet roughly rather than set targets to be met every day.
Understanding the nutrition information that appears on food labels can go a long way towards helping you appreciate exactly what’s in the food you eat and help you make choices that fit the needs of you and your family.
Most labels show the proportion of each nutrient in 100g of the product as well as per serving.
Once you know how much of a certain nutrient a product contains in each serving, you can refer to the Guideline Daily Amounts to see how much it contributes to your overall total – and decide how it should fit within your family’s diet. That it, should it form a staple part of the diet or is it a treat that should be eaten in moderation.
The table below shows the Guideline levels needed by adult male and females each day:
Guideline Daily Amounts
|
Women/All Adults |
Men |
Children aged 5-10 |
| Kcal |
2000 |
2500 |
1800 |
| Protein |
45g |
55g |
24g |
| Carbohydrate |
230g |
300g |
220g |
| Of which sugars |
90g |
120g |
85g |
| Fat |
70g |
95g |
70g |
| Of which saturates |
20g |
30g |
20g |
| Fibre |
24g |
24g |
15g |
| Sodium |
2.5g |
2.5g |
1.4g |
| Salt equivalent |
6g |
6g |
4g |
|
Source: Institute of Grocery Distribution
At first glance, all those figures can make things seem complicated. But with a little practice it’ll soon become second nature to check what the label’s telling you as you go round the supermarket before you add anything to your basket.