How to Use the Nutrition Facts Label

The information in the main section of the label contains product-specific information such as serving size, calories, and nutrient information. 

The bottom part of the label is the same on all food products. It contains a footnote with Daily Values (DVs) for 2000 and 2,500 calorie diets. This footnote provides recommended dietary information for important nutrients including fats, sodium, and fiber.

The coloring on the label below is added to show different information. You won't see it on a normal nutrition facts label.

The first place to start when you look at the Nutrition Facts label is the serving size and the number of servings in the package. Without knowing this information, the rest of the information on the label is easily misread and you can end up consuming far more calories than you think you are. 

For example, a can of soda might list 110 calories per serving. But a serving size may only be 6 oz. If there are 12 oz. in the can, there are two servings, which means you will consume 220 calories if you drink the whole can, rather than the 110 that you might at first think.

Always ask yourself "How many servings am I having?” before you read the rest of the label.

The calorie section of the label is the most helpful for weight control. Calories provide a measure of how much energy you get from a serving. 

In the example, there are 250 calories in one serving of macaroni and cheese. But remember, you have to take serving size into consideration - if you ate the whole container you would consume two servings, which would be 500 calories.

The information for Calories from Fat can help you quickly see the relative amount of fat in the food. In this case, almost half the calories come from fat, which means it is reasonably high in fat.

40 calories is low, 100 calories is moderate, 400 calories is high. Eating too many calories per day is linked to overweight and obesity.

Eating too much fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, or sodium may increase your risk of certain chronic diseases, like heart disease, some cancers, or high blood pressure. You can use this part of the label to help moderate your intake of these nutrients.

Total fat –This refers to all the types of fat in the food, including saturated, trans, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Total fat from all your foods for the day should be less than 30 percent of all your recommende calories. In a 2000 calorie diet this equates to 65g.

Saturated fat – This sort of fat needs to be strictly limited because it raises cholesterol levels, clogs arteries, and leads to heart disease. Total saturated fat from all your foods for the day should be less than 10 percent of all your calories. In a 2000 calorie diet this equates to 20g. One cup of ice cream or 3 oz of cheese can easily contain 20g of saturated fat.

Trans fat – Like saturated fat, trans fat raises the LDL (“bad”) cholesterol that increases your risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). It is recommended that trans fat and saturated fat together should be limited to 10 percent of daily calories. One medium serving of French fries contains 8g of trans fat.

Cholesterol – Total cholesterol from all your foods for the day should be less than 300mg. Five oz of cooked shrimp contains 277mg.

Sodium –Total sodium from all your foods for the day should be less than 2,400mg. A bowl of canned soup often contains around 1000mg of sodium.

Fiber and sugar are types of carbohydrate. They are listed separately because it’s important that you get enough fiber and not too much sugar.

Carbohydrate – Carbohydrate is your number one energy food and should make up around 40-60 percent of your total calories for the day. In a 2000 calorie diet, that equates to around 300g. One cup of cooked pasta contains around 40g of carbohydrate.

Dietary fiber – Adults need 25-35g of fiber per day. One piece of wholegrain bread has around 2g of fiber.

Sugar – CalorieKing.com recommends that added sugars make up no more than 10 percent of your total energy intake for the day. In a 2000 calorie-a-day diet, 10 percent is equal to about 50 grams, or 10 teaspoons of sugar. A can of soda has 10 teaspoons of added sugar.

* Note that "sugars" on the panel may include naturally occurring sugars, such as in fruit. You do not need to limit these naturally occurring sugars to 10 percent.

Although there is no daily reference value for protein, CalorieKing.com recommends that protein make up 15-20 percent of your total calories for the day. Protein has four calories per gram, so for a 2000 calorie-a-day diet you could eat 75-100 grams of protein. 

The % Daily Values (%DVs) are based on the Daily Value recommendations for key nutrients for a 2000-calorie diet. It helps you determine if a serving of food is high or low in a nutrient.

The %DV puts all the numbers on the same scale for the day ranging from 0-100%DV. The column doesn't add up vertically to 100 percent. Instead, the percentage amount for each nutrient shows how much of the daily requirement for that nutrient (for a 2000 calorie diet) is provided by the food. 

For example, you will get 18 percent of your total fat for the day from one serving of this macaroni and cheese. This is relatively high, especially if you eat the whole package, which has two servings - that would be 36 percent of your total fat for the day. And remember, this is for a 2000 calorie diet. If you are consuming 1500 calories per day, eating the whole package will account for 45 percent of your fat intake.

Note the * used after the heading "%Daily Value" on the Nutrition Facts label. It refers to the footnote in the lower part of the nutrition label, which tells you "%DVs are based on a 2,000 calorie diet". This statement must be on all food labels. But the remaining information in the full footnote may not be on the package if the size of the label is too small. When the full footnote does appear, it will always be the same. It doesn't change from product to product, because it shows recommended dietary advice for all Americans – it is not about a specific food product.

Look at the amounts circled in red in the footnote – these are the Daily Values (DV) for each nutrient listed and are based on public health experts' advice. DVs are recommended levels of nutrient intakes. DVs in the footnote are based on a 2000 or 2,500 calorie diet. Note how the DVs for some nutrients change, while others (for cholesterol and sodium) remain the same for both calorie amounts.