In an effort to help consumers balance their diet and make healthier eating choices, Tiger Brands started working on the Eat Well Live Well labelling system and the Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) as far back as 2007, with the first Tiger products featuring the GDA at the end of 2008.
"The world is facing new health challenges and threats including a significant increase in chronic diseases arising from an aging population and unhealthy lifestyles," says Alex Mathole, corporate affairs group executive for Tiger Brands, "As a leading FMCG company, we want to enable consumers to make healthier food choices and balance their diet through the day."
GDAs help you to maintain a balanced diet for you and your family by noting the amounts of nutrients in food that you need to monitor. You can also use it to monitor the amount of salt you consume at any given point. When you calculate your GDA, you will begin to understand what it is that you are putting into your body and how you can benefit from eating a balanced diet.
The GDAs that you'll find on all Tiger Brands products are guidelines for people of standard weight and average activity level. The important thing to remember is that GDAs are not targets for consumption but rather guidelines to assist in making better dietary choices in order to balance your diet.
Individual nutrient requirements vary depending on age, gender, weight and physical activity. Three GDAs have been scientifically devised for adult men, adult women, and for children aged 5 to 10 years. Globally, unless a food is targeted at children 5 - 10 years of age, the adult woman GDA is used on food packaging. This ensures that the general adult population does not go over their GDA.
The table below shows the average GDAs for the three target groups:
| Kilojoules | Sugars | Fat | Saturates | Salt |
| Women | 8400 kJ | 90g | 70g | 20g | 6g |
| Men | 10500 kJ | 120g | 95g | 30g | 6g |
| Children (aged 5-10 years) | 7530 kJ | 85g | 70g | 20g | 4g |
Please note that if you or your family do not fall within average parameters for weight and physical activity, you should please consult your doctor or a healthcare professional for advice.
The key nutrients
GDAs are available for kilojoules (energy) and the four other important nutrients that may increase the risk of developing a diet-related disease, when exceeded. These high-risk nutrients are:
- Fat
- Saturated fat (Saturates)
- Sugar
- Salt (sodium)
Consumer health is a key focus for Tiger Brands, as seen by our introduction of tables on our products supported by the 'Eat well Live well' nutritional health programme and the recently launched Nutrition Education programme focused on teaching primary school learners healthy lifestyle choices. We are also on track to meet the requirements of the Department of Health's salt reduction regulations with products that consumers can still enjoy.
The next time you want to add an ingredient when you are cooking, read the GDA to see how much salt it already contains so that you don't exceed your salt intake in your meal. Using a GDA table will help you balance your diet in order to assist you in healthful living.
What is Eat Well Live Well?
The Eat Well Live Well programme is an initiative of Tiger Brands to help take the guesswork out of healthier eating for consumers.
We understand that balancing your diet can be tricky when juggling busy schedules with work, family and friends. The Eat Well Live Well programme aims to make consumers aware of the high-risk nutrients in foods through easy-to-read and easy-to-understand Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) tables.
Our GDA tables note the percentage of kilojoules and of the key nutrients, such as fats, sugars, saturates and salt that may increase your risk of developing a diet-related disease.
GDAs help make sense of nutrition information provided on food labels and translate science into consumer friendly information. When you see the Eat Well Live Well symbol on products, you can be sure you're making the healthier choice.
For more nutrition tips visit: www.eatwelllivewell.co.za
