How to understand food nutrition labels

The nutrition labels on food packages are not always easy to decipher. Here’s a guide to understanding the serving size, calories, and daily values listed on these labels.

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Reading food labels can be a challenge. Yet learning how to understand them can help you make informed decisions about the food you’re eating, especially if you’re trying to stick to a healthy diet.

If you have trouble reading food labels, you’re not alone. It turns out that many people find them hard to interpret.

In a 2013 study of over 3,000 U.S. adults who viewed a nutrition label for ice cream, about 24 percent could not figure out the calorie count of the full container.

Here, we’ll explain the various aspects of food labels and how you can use them to your benefit.

Serving Size

At the top of the nutrition label is the serving size, which tells you how much of that food people typically eat or drink. However the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emphasizes that “it is not a recommendation of how much you should eat or drink.”

Serving size is listed in standardized units, like cups or pieces, so that it’s easy to compare similar foods.

The top of the food label also lists “servings per container” which estimates how much of the listed serving size there is in one container or package of that food.

This is important to note because — as we describe below — the calorie count, nutrient amounts, and daily values listed in the rest of the nutrition label are usually listed per serving.

So if you’re eating more than the serving size, you need to multiply the calories and nutrient amounts by the number of servings.

Calories per serving

This number tells you how much energy is contained in one serving of this food.

Calories are units of energy. Our bodies burn calories during activity and we gain calories from consuming foods and drinks.

We maintain our body weight when the number of calories we’re consuming matches the number of calories we’re burning.

How many calories do you need to consume each day? It depends on how old you are, your sex, weight, height, and how much physical activity you get.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate.gov website can help you estimate how many calories you need.

While the number of calories needed daily varies by person, nutrition labels tend to base their values on a diet of 2,000 calories per day.

Nutrient tables

Most of the nutrition label is made up of a table listing various nutrients, the amount of that nutrient contained in the food, and the percent daily value.

We’ll start with the nutrient amounts. These are typically listed in units like grams.

The FDA recommends limiting saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. On the other hand, it’s good to get foods that are high in fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium, as these are some nutrients that Americans don’t get enough of.

Some food labels have “total sugars” and “added sugars” listed. Added sugars are those that are added during the processing of the food. Total sugars are all the sugars naturally present in that food and added sugars.

Percent Daily Value (%DV)

Daily values are the “reference amounts (expressed in grams, milligrams, or micrograms) of nutrients to consume or not to exceed each day”, according to the FDA.

So the percent daily value shows you how much one serving of that food contributes to the amount of a particular nutrient you should be getting, or in some cases, should not be exceeding.

Looking at the percentages is a simple way to see if a food is high or low in a particular nutrient. What is considered high or low? The FDA says a food that has 5% daily value or less of a particular nutrient is considered low in that nutrient. One with 20% or more is high.

One thing to note about daily values is that the meaning can differ depending on the nutrient. In some cases, a daily value means that you should get at least that amount of a nutrient. In other cases, it’s the amount of that nutrient you should try not to exceed.

And some ingredients, like trans fat — which should just be avoided — don’t have a percent daily value.

For a full list of the daily values for major nutrients, check out the National Institutes of Health’s Daily Values tables.

Ingredients List

Food labels list ingredients at the bottom of the nutrition tables. These are usually ordered starting with the ingredient contained in the highest amount.

At the bottom of the ingredients list, food manufacturers note if there are ingredients that may trigger allergies, such as: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat.

There are some variations to food labels. Some show percent daily value for one serving and for the entire container. The FDA provides a full list of food label variations here.

If you need more assistance in understanding food labels and figuring out how to find foods that fit your diet, you can chat with a registered dietitian.

Alpha provides diet and nutrition counseling online. Once you complete an online consultation, one of our registered dietitians will help you come up with a nutrition plan that suits your needs.

To learn more about the conditions we treat or get started with your online consultation, check out our website and sign up today!

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