Breaking Down the Nutrition Label

1.) Serving size:
The first part of the label to pay attention to is the ‘Serving Size’ section. It is important to understand that the serving size is merely a representation of how much people typically consume, and is not a recommendation of how much you should consume. It’s also key to understand that all the following information regarding calories, daily values, and nutrients are all referring to the listed serving size.

A common mistake is thinking that the nutrition stats are referring to the entire package, when in reality that single package might contain more than one serving. So to accurately assess the calories, nutrients, and daily value percentages, you need to ascertain if you are consuming  ½ serving, 1 full serving, or more than a serving.

2.) Calories:
One of the recent changes the FDA implemented to food labels was listing the calories in large, bold, highly visible font. A calorie is a unit of measurement to show the amount of energy you will get from one serving of a given food item. When you do not burn off calories, they are stored in the body as fat. Because so many health problems result from being overweight, it is important to be aware of how many calories you are consuming and burning off throughout the day.

The FDA food labels use a 2,000 calorie per day diet as a standard to provide nutrition advice. However, it is important to understand that your caloric requirements may be higher or lower base on your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level. A reliable, government provided resource to determine your calorie needs  is available at https://www.choosemyplate.gov/resources/MyPlatePlan.

3.) Nutrients:
The third section of importance is the ‘Nutrients’ segment. This section will list some of the main nutrients that impact your health, but it is not a comprehensive list of every nutrient in the food item. With an awareness of your unique dietary needs, you can select foods that contain more of the nutrients you need and less of those you're trying to avoid.

Nutrients to Increase:
Conversely, there are nutrients the FDA has determined Americans do not get the recommended amount of. Seek out foods containing the nutrients: dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium. The health benefits associated with dietary fiber come from an increased number of bowel movements, a decrease in blood glucose and cholesterol levels, and a decrease in caloric intake. You can also decrease the risk of osteoporosis, anemia, and high blood pressure by making sure to consume a diet rich in vitamin D, iron, and potassium. 

Nutrients to Decrease:

Personal dietary needs aside, it is well documented that Americans generally consume too much saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. This is of considerable consequence as consuming excess saturated fat and sodium is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure, while consuming excess added sugars reduces the ability to acquire all your nutrient needs without exceeding your calorie limit.

4.) Percent Daily Value (%DV):
Now that we have taken a look at the nutrients themselves, it is important to understand how much of any given nutrient we should consume per day. This amount can be determined by reading the Percent Daily Value section aka (%DV). The (%DV) will tell you how much of a nutrient in a single serving of food contributes to the levels of a total daily diet.

For example, if the (%DV) of sodium on a bag of chips reads: Sodium 850mg 37%, that means that eating one serving of these chips will give you 37% of all the Sodium recommended to consume in one day. Thus, using the (%DV) makes it easy for consumers to interpret if a serving of food is relatively high or low in a given nutrient.

*Note: (Once again, make sure to be aware of the serving size because a food item may be packaged in one box but could contain more than one serving. Therefore if you ate the full box of something that contained 4 servings, the (%DV) would have to be multiplied times 4).