List of Ingredients

Registered Dietitian Margaret Brum shares advice on how to read a nutrition facts label and ingredient list

Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. This means that foods contain:

more of the ingredients at the beginning of the list, and
less of the ingredients at the end of the list

The ingredient list can help you avoid foods that you don’t want to eat.

Here is a list of ingredients for a popular type of food that may be marketed as “healthy”. Actually, it contains a lot of sugar. Scroll down to find out what this food is.

INGREDIENTS:GLUCOSE-FRUCTOSE, CHICORY ROOT EXTRACT (INSULIN FIBRE), SUGAR, WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, PUFFED WHEAT, HIGH MALTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHOLE GRAIN BARLEY FLAKES, CHOCOLATE CHIPS (CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, SUGAR, COCOA BUTTER, MILK INGREDIENT, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL FLAVOUR), CORN BRAN, PALM KERNAL OIL, CRISP RICE (RICE FLOUR, MALT EXTRACT, SUGAR, SALT), CANOLA OIL, WHEAT BRAN, GLYCERIN, COCOA, WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, GRAHAM FLOUR, SOY LECITHIN, CORN STARCH, NATURAL FLAVOUR, MALTODEXTRIN, SALT, TRISODIUM PHOSPHATE, BHT.

This list of ingredients is from a chocolate-chip granola bar.