Read The Label

Shopping for dinner has never been more confusing. The shelves are stacked with a dazzling array of products and more and more of them claim to benefit our health in some amazing way. We know that these claims are more about creating commercial opportunities for manufacturers than making us healthier. Still, if you're not much of a dietary expert, it's easy to fall for the spin. The nutritional panel is intended to provide bemused consumers with an accurate breakdown of the food's true value, but how many of us really know what the numbers refer to? Is 20 mg of sodium per 100 g of muesli a mere sprinkle? Or is it a dangerous overload guaranteed to harden arteries with every mouthful?

This is an issue that's about to become more urgent as there are new moves afoot to allow foods to carry an even greater range of claims about their potential to prevent disease than they do now. Thankfully, we have this timely book to help decode the semiotics of marketing-speak and decipher the arcana of the nutritional panel. Read the Label is an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand reference that exposes the truth of what's on the front, sides and backs of the packaging and encourages the shopper to make fully informed choices and discriminate between competing products. It will change the way you shop!