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How To Understand and Use The Nutrition Facts Panel On Food Labels
How To Understand and Use The Nutrition Facts Panel On Food Labels
Pay attention to the serving size, including how many servings there are in the food package,
and compare it to how much YOU actually eat. The size of the serving on the food package
influences all the nutrient amounts listed on the top part of the label. In the sample label above, one
serving of macaroni and cheese equals one cup. If you ate the whole package, you would eat two
cups. That doubles the calories and other nutrient numbers, including the %Daily Values as shown
below (see Calories and %Daily Value for more information).
Example
Single Double
%DV %DV
Serving Serving
Serving Size 1 cup (228g) 2 cups (456g)
Calories 250 500
Calories from Fat 110 220
Total Fat 12g 18% 24g 36%
Trans Fat 1.5g 3g
Saturated Fat 3g 15% 6g 30%
Cholesterol 30mg 10% 60mg 20%
Sodium 470mg 20% 940mg 40%
Total
31g 10% 62g 20%
Carbohydrate
Dietary Fiber 0g 0% 0g 0%
Sugars 5g 10g
Protein 5g 10g
Vitamin A 4% 8%
Vitamin C 2% 4%
Calcium 20% 40%
Iron 4% 8%
The Nutrients
(#3 and 4 on sample label):
Look at the top section in the sample nutrition label. It shows nutrients that are important for your
health and separates them into two main groups:
Remember: You can not only use the food label to help limit those nutrients you want to cut
back on, but also to increase those nutrients you want to consume in greater amounts.
It's not hard to follow nutrition experts' advice for a healthy diet. Try to limit your total daily intake of
fat, saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol (shown in yellow on the chart) to less than 100%DV.
Likewise, you should try to get enough essential nutrients like calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C as
well as other components such as dietary fiber (shown in blue on the chart). Try to average 100% for
each one of these nutrients each day.
which nutrients contribute a lot, or a little, to your daily recommended allowance (upper or lower).
Example of %DV for Total Fat: If you cover up the %DVs on the sample label, can you tell if 12g of
Total Fat is high or low? Another way of asking this question is, does one serving (containing 12g of
fat) contribute a lot or a little Total Fat to your daily diet?
Now look at the %DVs on the label example: 12g fat equals 18%DV. When one serving of macaroni
and cheese contains 18%DV for Total Fat, that means you have 82% of your fat allowance left for all
the other foods you eat that day (100%-18%=82%).
Example: Look again at the amount of Total Fat in one serving listed on the sample nutrition label for
macaroni and cheese. Is 18%DV contributing a lot or a little to your maximum fat limit of 100% DV?
Check the Quick Guide to %DV. You see that 18%DV, which is below 20%DV, is not yet high, but
what if you ate the whole package (two servings)? You would double that amount, eating 36% of
your daily allowance for Total Fat. That amount, coming from just one food, would contribute a lot
of fat to your daily diet. It would leave you 64% of your fat allowance (100%-36%=64%) for all of
the other foods you eat that day, snacks and drinks included.
Comparisons: The %DV also makes it easy for you to make comparisons. You can compare one
product or brand to a similar product. It's easy to see which one is higher or lower in a nutrient
because the serving sizes are generally consistent for similar types of foods. See EXAMPLE below.
Pictured below are two kinds of milk–one is "Reduced Fat," the other is chocolate "Nonfat"
milk. Each serving size is one cup. Which has more calories? Which is higher in fat and
saturated fat?
Dietary Trade-Offs: You can use the %DV to help you make dietary trade-offs with other
foods throughout the day. You don't have to give up a favorite food to eat a healthy diet. When a food
you like is high in fat, balance it with foods that are low in fat at other times of the day. Also, pay
attention to how much you eat so that the total amount of fat for the day stays below 100%DV.
Nutrients that Have No %DV: Trans Fats, Sugars, and Protein: Note that Trans fat,
Sugars and, Protein do not list a %DV on the Nutrition Facts panel.
Trans Fat: Scientific reports link trans fat (and saturated fat)
with raising LDL ("bad") blood cholesterol levels, both of
which increase your risk of coronary heart disease, a leading
cause of death in the US. But experts could not provide a
reference value for trans fat nor any other information that
FDA believes is sufficient to establish a Daily Value or %DV.
The Daily Values are based on expert dietary advice about how much, or how little, of some key
nutrients you should eat each day, depending on whether you eat 2,000 or 2,500 calories a day.
Example: look at the Total Fat information in the footnote. It tells you that if you eat a 2,000 calorie
diet, you should eat less than 65g of fat in all the foods you eat in a day. By doing this, you will
follow nutrition experts' advice to consume no more than 30 percent of your daily calories from fat.
Because the DV for total fat is "less than 65g," this is the same thing as saying, to keep your total fat
intake for the day below 100%DV.
If you consume 2,500 calories per day, the Footnote shows you how your daily values would change
for some nutrients but not for others. The Daily Values for Cholesterol (300mg) and Sodium
(2,400mg sodium) remain the same no matter how many calories you eat. But recommended levels of
intake for other nutrients do depend on how many calories you consume. Remember: %DVs listed
on the top half of the food label are based on recommendations for a 2,000 calorie diet, not a
2,500 calorie diet.