Nutrition labels reveal useful information about the foods you consume. By consulting these labels, you create a more vivid picture about the contents of your diet and provide yourself a concrete look at your nutrition. In the United States, nutrition labels must conform to a specific set of rules that dictate what information manufacturers must include and how they may present it. Learning to read nutrition labels will provide you with the tools to more accurately understand your diet and make intelligent decisions about the foods and drinks you consume.
Step 1
Locate the label on the packaging marked with bold text reading, "Nutrition Facts."
Step 2
Examine the first line of the label for information on serving size. This will tell you--typically in imperial and metric units--to what quantity of food the nutrition label applies. If the label on a candy package specifies that the nutrition information applies to 12 pieces of candy, for example, you must multiply all the information by the number of servings you consume.
Step 3
Read the next line of the label to find the number of calories in the food. The number itself may not be useful information, but the number of calories compared with the amount of nutrition in the food is. For example, a high-calorie food that contains a significant amount of protein and vitamins may be better for you than a low-calorie food with few nutrients.
Step 4
Examine the next lines for information on common nutrients. The first few lines cover nutrients that Americans eat either in adequate amounts or to excess. The nutrients include fat, cholesterol and sodium. The labels provide the amount of fat, including saturated fat and trans fat, in number of grams and cholesterol, and sodium in number of milligrams.
Step 5
Continue down the label to find information on nutrients that individuals tend not to eat enough of, including fiber, vitamins A and C, calcium and iron.
Step 6
Look at the right side of each line for a percentage, which represents the Food and Drug Administration's recommendations for individuals who consume 2,000-calorie diets. If, for example, the value 22 percent appears on the line about fat, the amount of fat in that food item accounts for 22 percent of the maximum amount of fat the FDA recommends you consume in a single day. Generally, a percentage under 5 percent is low, while a percentage above 20 percent is high.
Step 7
Read the footnote at the bottom of the nutrition label for more specific information about the FDA's recommended daily values. This footnote is consistent across all food labels, and lists the quantities in grams and milligrams that the FDA recommends for each nutrient. Like the rest of the label, the nutrients toward the top represent those that Americans eat in sufficient quantity or in excess, while the nutrients toward the bottom represent those typically missing from the average diet.
Tips and Warnings
- Use the daily value percentages to make comparisons between food choices. For example, a food with a high percentage of daily recommended fiber and a low percentage of daily recommended fat will likely be more nutritious than one with the ratio reversed. Pay attention to serving sizes to get a full picture of the food's nutrition. An item with a low percentage of daily recommended fat may not be healthy if you generally consume multiple servings at once.
- Do not rely solely on the FDA's recommended values for your nutrition. Based on your age, sex, health and a variety of other factors, the amount of each nutrient you should consume may be different than this generalized recommendation. Always follow the dietary advice of your doctor.
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