Almost everything on the front of a food packet is written by a marketing team. Almost everything on the back is required by regulation. Learning to skip directly to the back is the single highest-return habit available in an Indian supermarket, and it takes about thirty seconds per product.
1. Find the per-100g column
Indian labels usually give both per-serving and per-100g values. Use per 100g, because serving sizes are chosen by the manufacturer and are frequently smaller than anything a human eats — a "serving" of biscuits that is three biscuits, or of namkeen that is 25 grams. Per 100g is the only figure that lets you compare two packets honestly.
2. Read the first three ingredients
Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, so the first three are most of what you are buying. This is where "multigrain" and "atta" biscuits routinely fall apart: refined flour appears first, with the named healthy grain far down the list in a quantity that would not change anything.
3. Count the sugars, under all their names
Sugar is often split across several ingredients so that none of them has to appear near the top of the list. All of these behave as added sugar in your body:
- Sugar, cane sugar, invert sugar, caster sugar
- Glucose, dextrose, fructose, high-fructose corn syrup
- Glucose syrup, corn syrup, malt extract, maltodextrin
- Honey, jaggery, date syrup, molasses — natural, and still sugar
- Fruit juice concentrate, which is sugar with a health-adjacent name
Two claims worth knowing precisely. "No added sugar" means none was added during manufacture — the product may still be high in naturally occurring sugars, as fruit juice is. "Sugar free" generally indicates sweeteners have been used instead, which is a different question from whether the food is worth eating.
4. Check sodium, not just salt
Sodium is where Indian packaged foods are most consistently underestimated — namkeen, papad, pickles, instant noodles, soups, breads and most ready-to-eat meals. If you are managing blood pressure this is the number to read first, and per 100g again rather than per serving.
5. Look at the fats, briefly
Check for trans fats and for "partially hydrogenated" anything in the ingredient list. Note also that a product can declare zero trans fat per serving while still containing some, if the serving is small enough — another reason the per-100g column earns its place.
Claims that mean less than they appear to
- "Cholesterol free" on a food that never contained cholesterol — true of every plant oil
- "Made with real fruit" — real, and possibly two percent
- "High in protein" on a product where the protein arrives alongside a great deal of sugar
- "Baked, not fried" — a cooking method, not a nutrition claim
- "Natural" and "farm fresh" — words with no fixed nutritional meaning at all
The thirty-second routine
Turn the packet over. Per 100g column. First three ingredients. Total sugars. Sodium. Decide. That is the whole method, and it will change more of your shopping than any list of forbidden foods.
The deeper point: most of what belongs in a metabolically healthy Indian kitchen — dal, sabzi, curd, atta, eggs, fruit, paneer — does not carry a label at all.
This article is general wellness education, not medical advice. If you are managing diabetes, hypertension or kidney disease, your physician or dietitian may set specific limits that override any general guidance here.