Date Posted: 03/31/23
NCP Blog: The Facts About Nutrition Facts Labels
Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month? Even though we’re wrapping up the month of March today, nutrition is important all year. One way to learn more about the foods we eat is by reviewing the Nutrition Facts labels on packaged food items.
Nutrition Facts Labels
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the Nutrition Facts label. The agency most recently updated the labels in 2016 to reflect new scientific information. Visual changes to the labels also helped make certain information easier to read: the serving size and number of calories appear in larger, bolder font, and the daily values have been updated.
The Nutrition Facts labels break down the amount of calories, carbs, fats, proteins, sugars, and vitamins per serving of the food. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends looking at different brands of the same food when comparing labels, because the nutritional information can vary between brands.
Information on the labels includes:
- Number of servings
- Serving size
- Calories per serving
- Total fat, saturated fat and trans fat
- Cholesterol
- Sodium
- Total carbohydrates, including dietary fiber, sugar, and added sugar
- Protein
- Vitamin D
- Calcium
- Iron
- Potassium
What Nutrition Facts Should You Care About?
The CDC recommends eating foods that are higher in fiber, vitamins and minerals. You should choose foods that have lower amounts of added sugars, saturated fats and sodium.
Be sure to always check the serving size! The nutrient information and the percentage of daily values that each one provides is based on the serving size. If a packaged item has 10 servings but you eat the entire thing (which I’ve been known to do, especially with my favorite snacks!), then you’re really consuming 10 times the number of everything on the label.
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