nutrition label

Decoding a Nutrition Label
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How to read a nutrition label
Understanding the Daily Percent Values
The scoop on organic, free range, and genetically engineered foods
Testing your label savvy

Now that you have some solid nutrition know-how, let's put this knowledge to work and decode all that mumbo-jumbo written on prepackaged food products. Once you can interpret the information on nutrition
labels, you'll become quite a detective in your local grocery store, further enhancing your skills as a healthy eater. You'll be able to make more informed food choices, as well as compare similar food products to see which brand is nutritionally superior. Best of all, the government has set up strict food label laws and regulations to prevent companies from printing misleading or falsified claims on food items so you can actually believe what you read. This section will provide the whole truth on the foods you
love to gobble down.

Serving Size
First, figure out how much food was analyzed by the folks who prepared the nutrition label. Serving size clearly describes this set amount of food. Of course, most packages contain more than one serving, and "Servings Per Container" refers to the number of single servings in the entire package. For example, the following label reports that a serving size is 1/2 cup and there are four servings per container. Therefore, there must be 2 full cups in the entire package because 1/2 cup X 4 = 2 cups.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/2 cup (114g)
Servings Per Container 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories 90 Calories from Fat 30
% Daily- Value*
Total Fat 3g .......5%
Saturated Fat Og........ 0%
Cholesterol 0mg ........0%
Sodium 300mg...... 13%
Total Carbohydrate13g ......4%
Dietary Fiber 3g...... 12%
Sugars3g
Protein 3g
* Percent Daity Values are based on a 2,000
calorie diet Yourdaily values may be higher or
lower depending on your calorie needs:
Calories 2,000 ............................................2,500
Total Fat Less than 65g ...............................8Og
Sat Fat Less than 20g .....................................5g
Cholesterol Less than 300mg ..................300mg
SOdium Less than 2,400mg .................2,400mg
Total Carbohydrate 300g .........................375g
Fiber 25g.......................................................... 3g
Calories per gram:
Fat 9 Carbohydrate 4 Protein 4

Do you eat the amount of food defined as one serving? Remember, fat and calorie measurements on the label are for a single serving size only. And we know it's easy to eat more than one measly serving. Here's a perfect example of the difference between serving size and the actual servings eaten: one serving of ice cream (1/2 cup) has approximately 12 grams of fat. Most of the people I know can easily eat 1 cup in a sitting, and you know what that means. When you double the serving size, you double everything: the calories, protein grams, carbohydrate grams, and, of course, the fat grams. Pay close attention to the amount per serving. If you go over (or under)on servings, keep that in mind when reading the remaining information.