How to Read Food Labels With Diabetes

Reading a food label with diabetes comes down to one habit: look at total carbohydrate, not the sugar line.

Sugar is only part of the carbohydrate in a packet. The flour in a biscuit, the rice flour in a namkeen and the maida in a rusk all raise blood glucose, and none of them appear as sugar. National diabetes guidance is consistent on this — the number to track at a meal is total carbohydrate, not sugar alone.

Indian labels have improved on one point. Since guidelines approved in June 2024, FSSAI requires packaged foods to display added sugar, salt and saturated fat in bold and in a relatively large font, rather than buried in small print with everything else.

What to actually check

• Total carbohydrate first. Sugar is a subset of it, not a substitute for it.
• The serving size. A packet is often two or three servings, and the figures may be per serving.
• The added-sugar line, now in bold — this is the one FSSAI singled out.
• The claim on the front against the table on the back. They frequently disagree.

If you want to go further than label-reading, here is whether you actually need to count carbohydrates.