How to Read Serving Size on Labels
People await at nutrient labels for a diverseness of reasons. But whatever the reason, many consumers would like to know how to use this data more finer and easily. The following label-reading skills are intended to make it easier for y'all to use the Nutrition Facts labels to make quick, informed food decisions to assistance you choose a healthy diet.
Overview | Serving Information | Calories | Nutrients | The Percent Daily Value (%DV) | Diet Facts Label Variations
For additional resource on the new Diet Facts characterization, visit www.fda.gov/NewNutritionFactsLabel.
Overview
The information in the master or acme department (see #i-4) of the sample nutrition label (below) tin can vary with each food and beverage product; it contains production-specific information (serving size, calories, and nutrient information). The bottom section contains a footnote that explains the % Daily Value and gives the number of calories used for general nutrition advice.
In the post-obit Nutrition Facts label we have colored certain sections to help you focus on those areas that will be explained in item. Annotation that these colored sections are not on the bodily food labels of products you purchase.
Sample Characterization for Frozen Lasagna
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1. Serving Information
(#1 on sample label)
When looking at the Nutrition Facts label, commencement take a look at the number of servings in the package (servings per container) and the serving size. Serving sizes are standardized to brand it easier to compare similar foods; they are provided in familiar units, such equally cups or pieces, followed past the metric amount, eastward.grand., the number of grams (g). The serving size reflects the corporeality that people typically consume or drink. It is not a recommendation of how much you should eat or drink.
Information technology's important to realize that all the food amounts shown on the characterization, including the number of calories, refer to the size of the serving. Pay attending to the serving size, especially how many servings there are in the food package. For example, you might ask yourself if you are consuming ½ serving, 1 serving, or more. In the sample label, one serving of lasagna equals ane cup. If you lot ate two cups, you would be consuming two servings. That is two times the calories and nutrients shown in the sample label, so y'all would need to double the nutrient and calorie amounts, too equally the %DVs, to come across what you lot are getting in two servings.
| Example | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Serving of Lasagna | %DV | Ii Serving of Lasagna | %DV | |
| Serving Size | ane cup | two cups | ||
| Calories | 280 | 560 | ||
| Total Fat | 9g | 12% | 18g | 24% |
| Saturated Fat | iv.5g | 23% | 9g | 46% |
| Trans Fat | 0g | 0g | ||
| Cholesterol | 35mg | 12% | 70mg | 24% |
| Sodium | 850mg | 37% | 1700mg | 74% |
| Total Carbohydrate | 34g | 12% | 68g | 24% |
| Dietary Fiber | 4g | 14% | 8g | 29% |
| Full Sugars | 6g | 12g | ||
| Added Sugars | 0g | 0% | 0g | 0% |
| Protein | 15g | 30g | ||
| Vitamin D | 0mcg | 0% | 0mcg | 0% |
| Calcium | 320mg | 25% | 640mg | 50% |
| Iron | 1.6mg | eight% | 3.2mg | 20% |
| Potassium | 510mg | 10% | 1020mg | twenty% |
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ii. Calories
(#ii on sample label)
Calories provide a measure of how much free energy you get from a serving of this nutrient. In the instance, at that place are 280 calories in 1 serving of lasagna. What if y'all ate the entire parcel? And so, yous would consume iv servings, or i,120 calories.
To achieve or maintain a salubrious body weight, balance the number of calories you eat and potable with the number of calories your body uses. 2,000 calories a day is used as a full general guide for nutrition advice. Your calorie needs may be higher or lower and vary depending on your age, sex, acme, weight, and physical activity level. Larn your estimated calorie needs at https://www.choosemyplate.gov/resources/MyPlatePlan.
Remember: The number of servings you lot consume determines the number of calories you actually consume. Eating also many calories per day is linked to overweight and obesity.
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3. Nutrients
(#3 on sample label)
Look at section 3 in the sample label. It shows you some key nutrients that impact your health. You can use the label to support your personal dietary needs – look for foods that contain more of the nutrients you want to get more of and less of the nutrients you may want to limit.
- Nutrients to get less of: Saturated Fatty, Sodium, and Added Sugars.
Saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars are nutrients listed on the label that may exist associated with adverse wellness effects – and Americans generally consume too much of them, co-ordinate to the recommended limits for these nutrients. They are identified every bit nutrients to go less of. Eating besides much saturated fatty and sodium, for instance, is associated with an increased risk of developing some health conditions, like cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure level. Consuming too much added sugars tin arrive difficult to run across of import food needs while staying within calorie limits.
What are Added Sugars and How are they Dissimilar from Total Sugars?
Full Sugars on the Diet Facts characterization includes sugars naturally present in many nutritious foods and beverages, such equally saccharide in milk and fruit as well every bit whatever added sugars that may exist nowadays in the product. No Daily Reference Value has been established for full sugars because no recommendation has been made for the total amount to eat in a day.
Added Sugars on the Nutrition Facts label include sugars that are added during the processing of foods (such as sucrose or dextrose), foods packaged every bit sweeteners (such every bit table sugar), sugars from syrups and beloved, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. Diets high in calories from added sugars can make information technology hard to run into daily recommended levels of important nutrients while staying within calorie limits.
Note: Having the word "includes" before Added Sugars on the label indicates that Added Sugars are included in the number of grams of Total Sugars in the product.
For instance, a container of yogurt with added sweeteners, might listing:
This means that the product has 7 grams of Added Sugars and 8 grams of naturally occurring sugars – for a total of xv grams of saccharide.
- Nutrients to get more of: Dietary Fiber, Vitamin D, Calcium, Atomic number 26, and Potassium.
Dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, fe ad potassium are nutrients on the label that Americans generally do non go the recommended amount of. They are identified as nutrients to become more of. Eating a nutrition high in dietary fiber can increment the frequency of bowel movements, lower blood glucose and cholesterol levels, and reduce calorie intake. Diets higher in vitamin D, calcium, atomic number 26, and potassium tin reduce the hazard of developing osteoporosis, anemia, and loftier claret pressure.
Remember: You can use the label to support your personal dietary needs—choose foods that contain more of the nutrients you want to get more of and less of the nutrients you may desire to limit.
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four. The Percentage Daily Value (%DV)
(#4 on sample label)
The % Daily Value (%DV) is the percent of the Daily Value for each nutrient in a serving of the food. The Daily Values are reference amounts (expressed in grams, milligrams, or micrograms) of nutrients to consume or not to exceed each day.
The %DV shows how much a nutrient in a serving of a food contributes to a full daily diet.
The %DV helps you decide if a serving of nutrient is high or low in a nutrient.
Do y'all demand to know how to calculate percentages to use the %DV? No, because the label (the %DV) does the math for you! It helps you interpret the nutrient numbers (grams, milligrams, or micrograms) by putting them all on the same scale for the day (0-100%DV). The %DV column doesn't add up vertically to 100%. Instead, the %DV is the percentage of the Daily Value for each nutrient in a serving of the food. It can tell you if a serving of nutrient is loftier or low in a nutrient and whether a serving of the nutrient contributes a lot, or a little, to your daily diet for each nutrient.
Note: some nutrients on the Nutrition Facts label, similar full sugars and trans fat, do not have a %DV – they will be discussed later.
Full general Guide to %DV
- 5% DV or less of a nutrient per serving is considered low
- 20% DV or more of a nutrient per serving is considered loftier
More often, choose foods that are:
- Higher in %DV for Dietary Fiber, Vitamin D, Calcium, Atomic number 26, and Potassium
- Lower in %DV for Saturated Fat, Sodium, and Added Sugars
Example: Look at the amount of sodium in one serving listed on the sample nutrition characterization. Is %DV of 37% contributing a lot or a little to your nutrition? Bank check the General Guide to %DV. This product contains 37% DV for sodium, which shows that this is a HIGH sodium production (information technology has more than than xx% DV for sodium). If yous consumed 2 servings, that would provide 74% of the DV for sodium – near iii-quarters of an entire twenty-four hour period'southward worth of sodium.
Compare Foods: Use %DV to compare food products (call back to make sure the serving size is the same) and more ofttimes choose products that are college in nutrients yous want to go more of and lower in nutrients you want to get less of.
Understand Nutrient Content Claims: Utilise %DV to help distinguish one merits from another, such equally "light," "low," and "reduced." Only compare %DVs in each food product to see which 1 is higher or lower in a detail nutrient. There is no demand to memorize definitions.
Dietary Merchandise-Offs: You can use the %DV to aid you brand dietary merchandise-offs with other foods throughout the twenty-four hours. You don't have to surrender a favorite food to eat a salubrious diet. When a nutrient you like is high in saturated fat, remainder it with foods that are low in saturated fatty at other times of the day. Also, pay attention to how much you eat during the entire 24-hour interval, so that the total corporeality of saturated fat, besides every bit other nutrients you lot want to limit, stays below 100%DV.
How the Daily Values Relate to the %DVs
Look at the case below for some other fashion to see how the Daily Values (DVs) relate to the %DVs and dietary guidance. For each nutrient listed in the table, in that location is a DV, a %DV, and dietary advice or a goal. If you follow this dietary advice, you will stay within public health experts' recommended upper or lower limits for the nutrients listed, based on a ii,000-calorie daily diet.
Examples of DVs versus %DVs
Based on a two,000 Calorie Diet
| Food | DV | %DV | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturated Fat | 20g | =100% DV | Less than |
| Sodium | ii,300mg | =100% DV | Less than |
| Dietary Cobweb | 28g | =100% DV | At least |
| Added Sugars | 50g | =100% DV | Less than |
| Vitamin D | 20mcg | =100% DV | At least |
| Calcium | 1,300mg | =100% DV | At least |
| Fe | 18mg | =100% DV | At least |
| Potassium | 4,700mg | =100% DV | At least |
Upper Limit - Eat "Less than"...
Upper limit ways it is recommended that you stay below or swallow "less than" the Daily Value nutrient amounts listed per day. For example, the DV for saturated fatty is 20g. This amount is 100% DV for this nutrient. What is the goal or dietary advice? To swallow "less than" 20 g or 100%DV each day.
Lower Limit - Eat "At least"...
The DV for dietary cobweb is 28g, which is 100% DV. This means it is recommended that yous eat "at least" this amount of dietary fiber on well-nigh days.
Nutrients Without a %DV: Trans Fats, Protein, and Full Sugars:
Note that Trans fat and Total Sugars do not list a %DV on the Diet Facts characterization. Protein simply lists a %DV in specific situations listed below.
Trans Fat: Experts could non provide a reference value for trans fatty nor whatsoever other data that FDA believes is sufficient to constitute a Daily Value.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, there is evidence that diets higher in trans fatty are associated with increased blood levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad") cholesterol—which, in turn, are associated with an increased take chances of developing cardiovascular disease. Note: most uses of artificial trans fat in the U.S. nutrient supply have been phased out every bit of 2018.
Protein: A %DV is required to be listed if a claim is fabricated for poly peptide, such as "high in protein." The %DV for protein must also be listed on the label if the product is intended for infants and children under 4 years of age. However, if the product is intended for the general population 4 years of age and older and a claim is not made nigh protein on the label, the %DV for protein is not required.
Current scientific evidence indicates that protein intake is not a public health concern for adults and children over 4 years of historic period in the United States.
Total Sugars: No Daily Reference Value has been established for Total Sugars considering no recommendations have been made for the full amount to eat in a solar day. Go on in mind that the Total Sugars listed on the Nutrition Facts label include naturally occurring sugars (like those in fruit and milk) equally well as Added Sugars.
Diet Facts Label Variations
Many Nutrition Facts labels on the market volition exist formatted in the same way as the lasagna label that has been used every bit an example throughout this page, merely there are other formats of the label that food manufacturers are permitted to use. This final section will nowadays ii alternate formats: the dual-cavalcade label and the single-ingredient saccharide label.
In addition to dual-column labeling and single-ingredient sugar labels, there are other label formats which you lot tin can explore here.
Dual-Cavalcade Labels
For certain products that are larger than a unmarried serving but that could be consumed in one sitting or multiple sittings, manufacturers volition have to provide "dual cavalcade" labels to indicate the amounts of calories and nutrients on both a "per serving" and "per package" or "per unit" basis. The purpose of this type of dual-column labeling is to allow people to easily identify how many calories and nutrients they are getting if they swallow or drink the entire package/unit at one time. For example, a purse of pretzels with 3 servings per container might take a label that looks like this to show you how many calories and other nutrients would be in one serving and in one bundle (3 servings).
Pretzels
Unmarried-Ingredient Sugar labels
Packages and containers of products such every bit pure dearest, pure maple syrup, or packages of pure sugar are not required to include a declaration of the number of grams of Added Sugars in a serving of the product but must still include a proclamation of the pct Daily Value for Added Sugars. Manufacturers are encouraged, but non required, to utilize the "†" symbol immediately following the Added Sugars percentage Daily Value on single-ingredient sugars, which would lead to a footnote explaining the amount of added sugars that one serving of the product contributes to the nutrition as well as the contribution of a serving of the product toward the percent Daily Value for Added Sugars. Single-ingredient sugars and syrups are labeled in this mode then that information technology does not wait similar more than sugars take been added to the product and to ensure that consumers take information about how a serving of these products contributes to the Daily Value for added sugars and to their total diet.
Here is an example of how a characterization on a single-ingredient saccharide, such as beloved, could look.
Honey
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Source: https://www.fda.gov/food/new-nutrition-facts-label/how-understand-and-use-nutrition-facts-label
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