Reading Food Labels When You're on Medication: An Indian Guide

If you are on BP medicine, check sodium content on food labels — packaged namkeen, bread, and instant noodles often contain 500-1500mg sodium per serving, directly counteracting your medicine. If you are diabetic, watch for hidden sugars listed as maltodextrin, corn syrup, dextrose, or "fruit juice concentrate" — even in products labelled "sugar-free." FSSAI requires all packaged foods in India to display nutritional information per 100g, including sodium, total carbohydrates, sugars, and trans fat. The front of the packet is marketing; the back is facts. This guide teaches you exactly what to look for on Indian food labels when someone in your family is on medication.

In India, FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) requires all packaged food to carry specific labelling information. Learning to read these labels takes just a few minutes, but it can make a real difference when someone in your family is on medication.

What FSSAI Requires on Every Packaged Food Label

Under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, every packaged food product sold in India must display:

• Product name and brand
• List of ingredients (in descending order of quantity — the first ingredient is what the product contains the most of)
• Nutritional information per 100 g or 100 ml, or per serving
• Allergen information (if it contains common allergens like milk, nuts, wheat, soy, etc.)
• Vegetarian or non-vegetarian mark (the green or brown dot)
• FSSAI license number
• Date of manufacture and expiry/best before date
• Net quantity

The nutritional information panel must include: energy (calories), protein, carbohydrates (including sugars), total fat (including saturated fat and trans fat), and sodium.

Hidden Sodium: A Danger for Blood Pressure Patients

If someone in your family takes BP medicine (amlodipine, telmisartan, enalapril, or any antihypertensive), sodium is the number you need to watch most carefully on food labels.

ICMR and WHO both recommend limiting sodium to less than 2,000 mg per day (equivalent to less than 5 grams of salt). But sodium hides in places you would never expect:

Surprising high-sodium Indian packaged foods

• Packaged namkeen and bhujia: A single 50 g serving can contain 400–600 mg of sodium — that is a quarter of your daily limit from one snack.
• Instant noodles: The tastemaker (masala packet) alone can have 800–1,200 mg of sodium.
• Ready-to-eat meals and curry pastes: Often loaded with salt for flavour and preservation.
• Bread and pav: Even plain white bread contains added salt — about 120–150 mg per slice. Two slices of toast is already 250–300 mg.
• Pickles (achaar) and chutneys in packets: Extremely high in sodium.
• Cheese and processed paneer: Processed cheese slices are much higher in sodium than fresh paneer.
• Biscuits: Even sweet biscuits contain salt. A packet of cream biscuits may have 200–400 mg of sodium.

Why this matters for medicines

High sodium intake directly counteracts the effect of BP medicines. Your medicine is trying to lower blood pressure, but excess sodium pulls water into your blood vessels and raises it. Eating high-sodium packaged food while taking BP medicine is like driving with one foot on the accelerator and one on the brake.

Hidden Sugars: A Trap for Diabetes Patients

Sugar goes by many names on Indian food labels, and companies use this to their advantage. When your label says "no added sugar" or "sugar-free," you need to look deeper.

Names for sugar on labels

All of these are forms of sugar or sweeteners that raise blood sugar:

• Sucrose, glucose, fructose, dextrose, maltose
• Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup
• Invert sugar, jaggery powder, honey
• Malt extract, maltodextrin
• Fruit juice concentrate

If any of these appear in the first three ingredients, the product is essentially a sugar-heavy food, regardless of what the front of the packet claims.

The "sugar-free" trap

Many "sugar-free" products marketed to diabetics use sugar alcohols like maltitol, sorbitol, xylitol, or isomalt. These are not calorie-free. They still raise blood sugar, just more slowly than regular sugar. A "sugar-free" mithai made with maltitol is not a free pass — it still contains carbohydrates that affect blood glucose.

What to look for instead

• Check "Total Carbohydrates" on the nutrition label — this is what affects blood sugar, not just the "Sugar" line.
• Look at "of which Sugars" within the carbohydrate section to see how much is simple sugar.
• Compare per-serving values, not per-100g — some products use unrealistically small serving sizes to make numbers look good.

Trans Fat: Still a Concern

FSSAI has been working to reduce trans fats in Indian food products. A product can claim "trans fat free" only if it contains less than 0.2 g of trans fat per serving. But many traditional snacks made with vanaspati (partially hydrogenated vegetable oil) or repeatedly heated oils still contain significant trans fats.

Trans fats are especially harmful for heart patients. They raise LDL (bad cholesterol) and lower HDL (good cholesterol). If someone in your family is on statins (atorvastatin, rosuvastatin) for cholesterol, minimising trans fats from packaged food is important — the medicine works better when the diet supports it rather than fights it.

Preservatives and Additives to Be Aware Of

Most food preservatives approved by FSSAI are safe for the general population. However, a few are worth knowing about if you are on specific medicines:

• Sodium benzoate (INS 211): Contains sodium. If you are monitoring sodium for BP, preserved foods like packaged juices, sauces, and pickles add to your daily sodium load beyond the sodium listed as "salt."
• Monosodium glutamate / MSG (INS 621): Another source of sodium. Found in many packaged snacks, instant soups, and Chinese sauces.
• Artificial sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin, sucralose): Generally considered safe at normal consumption levels, but people on certain medicines should be aware. Aspartame (INS 951) is contraindicated for people with phenylketonuria (PKU) — this is why labels must declare its presence.

FSSAI's Eat Right India Initiative

FSSAI has launched the Eat Right India movement to help consumers make informed food choices. Key elements include:

• Front-of-pack labelling: FSSAI has been developing a front-of-pack nutrition label system to make it easier to quickly identify high-sugar, high-salt, or high-fat products without reading the full nutritional table.
• Eat Right Station and campus certifications: Train stations and institutions certified for healthy food practices.
• Safe and Nutritious Food (SNF) certification: Look for the "Eat Right" logo on products that meet FSSAI's health standards.

A Practical Label-Reading Checklist

Next time you pick up a packaged food item for someone on medication, check these in order:

1. Ingredients list: Scan the first 3–5 ingredients. If sugar, maida (refined flour), or hydrogenated oil is in the top three, think twice.
2. Sodium: If the patient has BP, check that sodium is below 120 mg per 100 g (ideal) or at least below 600 mg per 100 g.
3. Total carbohydrates and sugars: If the patient has diabetes, check total carbs, not just "sugar."
4. Trans fat: Should be 0 g. Also check ingredients for "hydrogenated" or "vanaspati."
5. Serving size: Make sure you know what "per serving" means — some packets contain 3–5 servings, so multiply accordingly if you eat the whole thing.
6. Claims vs. reality: "Sugar-free," "low fat," "multigrain" — always verify these claims by reading the actual numbers on the nutrition panel.