The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says proper nutrition is a key element in sustaining overall health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which contributes to setting nutritional standards, makes recommendations on the proper consumption amounts of various types of foods based on servings. A serving is a standardized measurement of food that can be used to help ensure meals meet daily nutritional needs.
Guidelines
In 2005 the USDA released a new set of guidelines with generalized suggestions on the number of servings of the major food groups adults and children should consume daily. The recommendations for a standard adult's 1,600-calorie diet include 1.5 cups of fruit, 2 cups of vegetables, the equivalent of 5 ounces of whole grains and the equivalent of 5 ounces of lean meat and beans. These amounts translate to 3 servings of fruit, 4 of vegetables, and 5 servings each of whole grains, lean meat and beans. Having this understanding of the correlation between serving size and quantity of food is beneficial when reading food labels and planning meals.
Labeling
Food products available for purchase in the United States are by law required to contain a label stating the nutritional facts of the item. Food labels enable individuals to assess the amount of calories, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and other nutrient qualities in a product. Nutritional fact labels begin with serving information, specifically the serving size and the amount of servings contained in the item of food. All other subsequent information regarding nutrient content on the label is based on the serving size.
Discrepancy
Serving sizes can be an essential way to monitor the amount of food being consumed, but this information is not static--it can be distorted. For example, it is common practice to market items of food that contain multiple servings as single serving items. A can of soup or boxed pasta entrée, often taken to be single servings of food, are commonly 2 to 3 servings, meaning that all nutritional information provided on the label would need to be doubled or tripled to accurately reflect the content of the food. The same is also true for many soft drinks and juices 16 oz. or more. Such information often goes unnoticed, especially when the discrepancy is subtle, as is the case with common food items(muffins, coffee, hamburger), particularly those prepackaged or purchased in shops and restaurants.
Reduction
Knowledge of serving size and amounts of servings in food items can assist individuals in regulating the amounts of overall calories and individual nutrients present in food based on their individual health needs. A person looking to lose weight can utilize serving size information to make sure she is not only getting the right amount of each food group within the lowered amount of caloric intake necessary to support weight loss, but is getting no more than the amount of fat or sugars expected from a given food item, only a single serving worth.
Individuality
The USDA guidelines provide a general reference point for healthy nutritional practice, but the agency recognizes that individual health and nutrition needs vary greatly, and practices are best implanted when tailored to the individual. To this end, the 1992 Food Guide Pyramid has been replaced with the MyPyramid concept, which enables consumers to enter personal data in order to receive customized guidance on the serving sizes and amounts of servings that individual should consume of each major food group daily to support her overall health. In this way, serving sizes can be used to create a detailed nutritional plan for an individual based on lifestyle and personalized nutritional goals.
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