Thanks to public awareness campaigns about counting calories, Americans are making more informed choices about eating healthy foods. In the early 1990s, as mounting scientific evidence linked the average diet to preventable chronic diseases, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took action. New label regulations in 1994 required manufacturers of commercially available foods to list the calories and major nutritional values per recommended serving size. Since then, counting calories and making sure you get adequate daily nutrition have become easier.
Function
Calories are units of energy associated with certain nutrients in foods, such as proteins, fats and fiber. Counting calories in foods reveals how much energy they can provide when used in the body's oxidation process. Nutritional values are the amount of nutrients by weight in a specific portion size of food. Food label nutrition facts contrast beneficial nutrients, such as potassium and calcium, with nutrients that should be limited, such as fat and sodium. Knowing the caloric and nutritional content helps you distinguish among healthy foods and those less beneficial to body function.
Features
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Dietary Guidelines, Americans often take in more calories than they burn. A diet focused solely on calorie content can provide insufficient nutrition. So the dietary guidelines and food label nutrition facts offer a formula for calculating how much nutritional value you are getting for the amount of calories consumed. Based on a 2,000-calorie diet, the daily value (DV) of a nutrient shows the percentage of recommended nutritional value that a food provides.
Identification
The USDA dietary guidelines and DV percentages tell you how much of which nutrients you should be getting per day. For instance, scientists have calculated that the average adult needs 1,000 mg of calcium daily. A food serving that provides 10 percent DV calcium would contain 100 mg of calcium. Counting calories works in the same manner. If you wish to stay within a 2,000-calorie limit, subtracting the DV percentage of calories from that total tells you how many calories remain in your daily allowance.
Significance
Eating healthy foods on a regular basis can change a decades-long upward trend toward obesity and weight-linked problems. In 2007, over one-quarter of the American population was obese, report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reducing obesity to improve health is important because related conditions, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, are costly and can lead to early deaths.
Benefits
Taking control of your diet will improve your health and life expectancy. If you have weight loss goals, calorie and nutrition information will help you create an effective diet plan based on healthy foods rather than fads. When making sound dietary choices becomes a habit, maintaining your weight and optimum fitness level will too.
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