If you’re wondering what the secret code for a understanding a nutrition label is, then you are not alone. A 2003 study conducted by the International Food Information Council found that 83% of consumers looked at ingredients or nutrition information “at least sometimes.” Many people are aware of the type of information found on a nutrition label, but find it much too confusing to help with everyday life.

How can we break the code? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided a simple way for breaking down the nutrition label. Here are some steps you can follow that are adapted from the information provided on the FDA website. Let’s start from the top…literally.

  Serving size is the first section you will find on the Nutrition Facts label. The serving size is a standardized amount of a food used to help consumers gauge how much they should be eating at one time and to help make comparing similar foods easy. The serving size will be listed in familiar household measurements, such as cups, ounces or grams. The number of calories and all of the nutrients listed below are based off of the serving size. Pay attention to how many servings you are consuming! If you eat twice the amount of the serving size, then you are eating twice the amount of calories and nutrients. You can use the ‘Servings Per Container’ feature to figure out how many total servings are in the entire container. This can help you to better determine how many of those servings you are going to be eating yourself and serve as a helpful tool when planning meals for your family or friends.

Calories are found right underneath the serving size. Your body is in need of a certain amount of calories or energy depending on factors such as your age, height, weight and how active you are. There are various calculators available online, such as SuperTracker, that can help give you an estimate of your own energy and nutrient needs. Most nutrition labels are based off of a 2,000 calorie diet, which will be explained more in step 3. The ‘Calories’ listed on the nutrition label will tell you how much energy you are getting from one serving of the food. ‘Calories from Fat’ will tell you how many calories per serving come from fat. In this example, 70 out of 170 total calories come from fat.

% Daily Value (%DV) is a small but important feature! These are percentages of the recommended amounts of nutrients you need to get through a day of classes and feel great. Daily Value recommendations are based off a 2,000 calorie diet to help quantify how much of a nutrient you are getting in one serving and how that impacts your individual needs for that day. For example, if you have just one serving from the nutrient label above, you get 12% of your total fat recommended for the day, and 0% of the daily recommendation for Vitamin A. Your calorie needs may be more or less than 2,000, but you can still use the %DV to see if a food is low or high in a certain nutrient. The FDA provides a quick guide for using %DV’s to help meet your nutrient needs regardless of how many calories you should be consuming:

• 5% DV or less is low
• 20% DV or more is high

The %DV should be high or low for different nutrients in order to be good for you. This will be discussed more in the paragraphs below. You can use the %DV to vary your meals and get more nutrients in your day!  Use these percentages to compare one product or brand to another similar product. Notice that the %DV is not listed for trans fat or sugar. This is because there are currently no target recommendations set for these nutrients. A %DV  for protein is only present on the label if the manufacturer has made a claim, such as “high in protein.”

Nutrients to limit include fat, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium. These are nutrients that we don’t have problems eating enough of, and often eat too much. Eating too much of them increases the risk of developing chronic diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure and certain cancers. These nutrients should have a lower %DV (5% or less).

Nutrients to strive for include dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron.  Eating enough of these nutrients on a daily basis will reduce the risk for developing chronic diseases, promote healthy digestion and give your brain and body energy to function at its best. Adding fruits, vegetables and whole grain products to your diet is a sure way to meet your needs of those particular nutrients. These nutrients should have a higher %DV (20% or more).

The Nutrition Label has been decoded! However, reading a label is a skill that needs to be practiced. Try going through these steps with a couple of labels the next time you go grocery shopping, reach for a snack at home, or when looking for snacks in one of the on-campus convenience stores! The purpose of a nutrition facts label is to inform you of what is in a food so you can choose what is best for you, and obtain more of the nutrients that you need. The more you investigate labels, the more familiar you will be with the key points, and reading labels will not be so time consuming! When dining on campus at Penn State,  you can look for entrée cards provided for each menu item, which will list the serving size and calorie information. For full nutrition information, simply access the online menus and click on the ‘Nutrition’ button. 

The nutrition label can be a simple tool to a healthier you! 

Resources:

Borra, Susan. “Consumer Perspectives on Food Labels.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (n.d.): n. pag. May 2006. Web. 06 July 2015. <http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/83/5/1235S.full#sec-4>.

“How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2015. <http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ucm274593.htm#overview>.

Photos adapted from: U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, ilovebutter