Q. I don’t eat much bread but do love savoury crackers either as a snack or something to dip with. How healthy are they?

A. Crackers are not as nutritious as you may think. What most people don't realise is that crackers can contain just as much fat and kilojoules/calories as sweet biscuits and chocolate and may not be as high in fibre as you would hope. So it pays to read the label when you are next out shopping for crackers. Here's what to look for:

• Look for crackers made with whole grains.
• Check the ingredients list - whole wheat, rye or other whole grain flour should be listed as the first ingredient.
• Choose high fibre crackers with at least 3 g of fibre per serve.
• Most of the fat found in baked foods is the artery-clogging saturated variety (most often palm oil or palmolein). Look for lower fat varieties that come in at less than 5 g of fat per 100 g (which means 5%).
• If you do choose a cracker with more fat, make sure the fat is the healthier kind by checking the ingredients list for the type of fat used. Don't be misled by 'vegetable oil' which is usually a blanket term for palm oil. If they use a healthy oil like sunflower or cottonseed oil, they will say so on the lis of ingredients.