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BASIC INFO — Label
Guidelines
>
What The Label Tells You
>
Nutritional
Content Claims
> Calories
and Nutrients
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WHAT THE LABEL TELLS YOU |
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The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) regulates food labeling to assure consumers that
the information they receive is accurate and not misleading. Labels
contain a lot of useful information to help you make healthy food choices.
Serving Size
Identified in familiar units (such as cups or tablespoons) followed
by the metric equivalent (i.e. grams) and is determined by the amount
typically eaten. (Be careful... what is "typically eaten" may not
be the amount you consume. For example, the label of a 15-ounce can of soup
shows 2 servings, but many of us will eat both servings.)
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Amount
per Serving
Nutritional information is based on one serving. If you eat 2
servings you need to double the calories, nutrients and % Daily
Value.
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Calories
from Fat
This is the amount of fat multiplied by 9 (number of calories
per gram of fat). Dietary guidelines suggest no more than 30% of daily
calories come from fat. To calculate the percentage, divide Calories from
Fat by Calories (using the label at left as an example, 10 ÷ 170 = 6%).
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Nutrients
Values are listed in grams except for Cholesterol and
Sodium,
which are in milligrams. Use these figures to compare fat, sodium, etc.
between products. If a nutrient is not shown, there is no significant
amount in the product.
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%
Daily Value
This shows how much of the Recommended Daily Values (RDVs) each nutrient
provides and is another way to compare similar products. Calculations
are based on 2,000 calories. In the label at left,
the total RDV for sodium is 4% [total daily sodium (2,400mg) divided by
sodium per serving (85mg)].
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Ingredients
Listed in order from most to least amount. Generally, if
sodium is one of the first 3 ingredients, there is probably too much
salt for a low-salt diet.
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Go to
Nutritional
Content Claims
Go to
Calories
and Nutrients
 InData
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