The Nutrition Facts Label
What is the Nutrition Facts label?
The Nutrition Facts Label tells you what nutrients (components of food your body needs to grow and stay healthy) and how much of those nutrients are in found in one serving. The Nutrition Facts label can help you make choices about the food you eat. The Nutrition Facts label is on the outside of most food packages, but isn't on most fresh foods (like fruits and vegetables or meats).
What will every Nutrition Facts Label have on it?
Every label will have the following nutrients listed:
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Other nutrients can also be put on the Nutrition Facts label if the company that makes the food wants them listed. Some of the other nutrients that can be put on the label include potassium, polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, other carbohydrates, and other vitamins and minerals.
What should I look for on the Nutrition Facts label?
The first thing you should look at is serving size. The amount of each nutrient on the label is what is found in one serving of that food, not in the whole container. If you don't know what one serving size is, you won't know the amount of each nutrient you are actually eating. For example, a bag of microwave popcorn has three servings in it. It is okay to eat more than one serving at a time, but it is important to know that if you ate the whole bag, you'd be getting three times what is listed on the label.
Do I need to read every Nutrition Facts Label?
No. You don't need to keep track of every nutrient you are eating. Just look at food labels occasionally to help you choose foods that will give your body the nutrition it needs. For example, if you don't drink much milk, you should read Nutrition Facts labels to help you find foods that are high in calcium. You can also use the Nutrition Facts label to compare 2 different foods. For example, if you are deciding between 2 different kinds of breads, looking at the labels can help you make a healthy choice. If one kind of bread is higher in fiber than the other, it would be a good idea to choose the one with more fiber.
The food label lists a 2000-calorie diet. Should I be eating 2000 calories?
No. Many adolescents need more than 2000 calories as they grow in height, build bones, build muscles and stay active. The 2000-calorie diet is just an estimate and is used to help calculate the Percent (%) Daily Value listed on the food label.
Updated 1/28/2008
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