Nutrition labels on food products need to comply with strict guidelines. These guidelines may vary from country to country, but most guidelines require listing of the total carbohydrate, fat, and protein amounts, as well as a few other key nutrients.

For example, in Spain, the amount of sugar and salt (not sodium) must be listed; nutrition values are expressed in different ways: per 100 grams of a product and sometimes per serving; fats are listed as total and saturated.

Nutrition labels may vary a little from country to country, but in general, they look very similar.

→ All estimates are for a person who expends 2000kcal per day. Please note that this is a (very) inactive person.

Athletes and runners can spend 1,000, 2,000 kcal (or more) just during training. Recreational athletes don't spend as much as professional athletes, but they spend more than an inactive or sedentary person.

Remember, the requirements for some nutrients increase with energy expenditure. So the requirements on the label may not be appropriate for athletes or recreational athletes.

When the amount of energy/calories is expressed as a percentage of the daily recommendation, this percentage will be based on a diet of 2,000kcal per day (for an inactive person) and not on a diet of 4,000kcal or more (for an athlete or some runners). It makes no sense for an athlete to rely on this figure.

Some labels suggest that sugar is always “bad” regardless of the context, and this is wrong. Athletes and runners consume a lot of sugar during some competitions, according to the intra-workout recommendation of sports guidelines, and it's fine. So context is super important, and generalizing can be dangerous.

Another important issue is the behavior of certain carbohydrates. For example, fructose and galactose are both sugars but behave very differently from glucose. Ingestion of these sugars results in a much lower insulin response and will deliver energy much more slowly. Yet, they are all grouped under “sugar”.

Labels always show the quantity of protein, but not the quality of that protein, which is extremely important.

Legumes (beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas) are known to contain protein, but they need to be eaten together with a cereal (rice, wheat, corn, quinoa, rye, oats, etc.) to form a complete protein.

In general, people eat more salt than they should, and, for health reasons, they should try to reduce their salt intake to avoid developing cardiovascular diseases and increasing blood pressure.

But athletes and runners sweat more, lose more salt, and therefore will also need to replace more salt. Especially athletes who are “salty sweaters” and have a higher salt requirement.

You may have heard about the app (Yuka) that deciphers the nutritional labels and analyzes the health impact of food products and cosmetics.

From a healthy perspective, the app is a good option, but it is not valid for athletes.

It works just like reading a food label, and product scores are based on three criteria:

The calculation method is based on Nutri-Score, a science-based nutrition label adopted by 7 European countries that measures the nutritional balance of food products, taking into account the indicated quantity of sugar, sodium, saturated fat, calories, protein, fiber, as well as the fruits and vegetables content (calculated or estimated).

This week's Track of the Week is by a singer I love! And this time it's not electronic music. 
This track is perfect to start a race with energy on the weekend!

I've chosen the track Doo Wop (That Thing) by Ms. Lauryn Hill.