Reading Nutrition Facts Labels

In order to begin a healthy lifestyle one of the most important tools is knowing how to read and understand nutritional labels. Nutritional labels provide a wealth of important information about the foods we consume. Based on the nutritional label you can make decisions about what foods are best for you. It’s important to understand the steps involved in reading a nutritional label.

  1. Check the serving size and calories: Begin by looking at the serving size and the number of servings in a package. The nutritional information that follows is based on the serving size. The number of calories let’s you know the amount of energy in food. If you eat more or less than the serving size, you’ll need to adjust the nutrient amounts to reflect how much you actually eat. So in this example there are 2 servings and 1 serving has 250 calories. If you eat both servings then you’ll actually eat 500 calories.
  2. Look at the percent daily value. As a guideline, a % daily value about 20% is high and below 5% is considered low. So this product is high is Calcium and Sodium, but low in Iron, Fiber and Vitamins A and C.
  3. Look out for saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and cholesterol. These are all linked to cardiovascular disease and should be limited in the diet. Most Americans eat too much of these. This product is high is sodium and if you were to eat the whole package you’d be eating 40% of your daily value of sodium.
  4. Be aware that the Total Carbohydrate (31g) includes the amount of sugar and dietary fiber. You should limit sugar consumption.
  5. Get enough Fiber, Unsaturated Fat, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron in your diet. Vitamins A and C, Calcium and Iron aren’t given by weight (in grams) but by % daily value. So for this product, in one serving, it contains 20% of the daily-recommended amount of Calcium and 2% of the daily-recommended amount of Vitamin C.