Figuring Out Food Labels

Food Label Basics

Food labels (sometimes called nutrition labels) give you important information about the packaged foods you eat. Food labels tell you what's inside the food and list its parts.

You know how books have a table of contents that explains what's inside? Or maybe you have a toy that came with a diagram that identified each small piece. Food labels are sort of like that. 

Why Should I Look at Food Labels?

Food labels aren't ideal for kids because they're based on what adults need to eat. But you can still find important information on food labels. You can get a general idea about things like how much is in a serving and how many calories are in a serving.

You also can use labels to compare two foods. Which one has more fiber? Which one has added sugars? Which one has protein?

Parts of a Food Label

Food labels have different parts that give you different kinds of information. Two important sections are the ingredient list and the Nutrition Facts label.

Ingredient List

Ingredients are listed in order of how much of each ingredient is in the food. When something is first, second, or third, you know that this food probably contains a lot of it. The food will contain smaller amounts of the ingredients mentioned at the end of the list.

People with food allergies need to carefully check ingredient lists to avoid foods that can cause an allergic reaction.

Nutrition Facts Label

The Nutrition Facts label is part of the food label and is printed somewhere on the outside of packaged food. You usually don't have to look hard to find it.

The Nutrition Facts label gives you information about things like serving size,  calories, and nutrients (say: NEW-tree-ents) in the food. Nutrients are substances in food that help your body work properly and grow.

Here are some nutrients in food:

• fat
• carbohydrates (say: car-bo-HI-drates)
• fiber
• protein
• vitamins, like vitamin D
• minerals, like calcium and iron

Your body needs the right combination of nutrients to work properly and grow.

Understanding Servings & Calories

Serving Size

The Nutrition Facts label always lists a serving size, which is an amount of food, like 1 cup of cereal, two cookies, or five pretzels. The rest of the label tells you how many nutrients are in one serving.

Servings Per Container or Package

The Nutrition Facts label also tells you how many servings are in that package of food. If there are 15 servings in a box of cookies and each serving is two cookies, you have enough for all 30 kids in your class to have one cookie each. Math comes in handy with food labels!

Calories

A calorie is a unit of energy that measures how much energy a food provides to the body. The number of calories listed on the Nutrition Facts label shows how many calories are in one serving.

If you eat two servings, you need to double the calories listed on the label to know how many calories you ate.

How Does the Label Measure Food?

Most nutrients are measured in grams, also written as g. Some nutrients are measured in milligrams, or mg. Milligrams are very tiny — there are 1,000 milligrams in 1 gram.

Other information on the label is given in percentages, written as %.

What Does ‘Percent Daily Value’ Mean?

The percent daily value helps show if a food is high or low in nutrients:

• Food with 5% or less of a nutrient is low in that nutrient.
• Food with 10%–19% of a nutrient is a good source of that nutrient.
• Food with 20% or more of a nutrient is high in that nutrient.

The information on food labels is based on an average adult diet of 2,000 calories per day. The actual number of calories and nutrients that kids need depends on their age, weight, gender, and level of physical activity. (For more guidance, ask your doctor.)

Nutrients & Other Dietary Info

Fat

Fat is an important nutrient that your body needs some of, but you don't want to eat too much. Total fat includes all the different kinds of fat in one serving of the food.

Saturated (say: SA-chuh-ray-ted) fat and trans fat are listed under total fat. They are often called "bad fats" because they raise cholesterol (say: kuh-LES-tuh-rawl) and increase a person's chance for developing heart disease. 

Unsaturated (say: UN-sa-chuh-ray-ted) fats are often called "good fats" because they don't raise cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol & Sodium

These numbers tell you how much cholesterol and sodium (salt) are in a single serving of the food. They’re included on the label because some people need to limit the amount of cholesterol and salt in their diets.

Total Carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are an important source of energy. Besides total carbohydrate, the Nutrition Facts label also lists dietary fiber, total sugar, and added sugars per serving.

Some foods naturally contain sugar, like fruit and milk. Snack foods, candy, and soda, though, often have added sugars. Added sugars add calories without important nutrients.

Protein

Your body needs protein to build and repair vital parts of the body, like muscles, organs, and blood. Growing kids need to make sure to get enough protein each day.

Vitamins & Minerals

Some important vitamins and minerals are included on the Nutrition Facts label:

• Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium so it can build bones and keep them strong. It also plays a part in heart health and fighting infection.
• Calcium is also needed for strong bones. It keeps nerves and muscles working and the heart healthy.
• Iron helps the body make new, healthy red blood cells. Not enough iron leads to anemia.
• Potassium (say: puh-TAH-see-um) helps balance the fluids in the body and helps control blood pressure.

Food labels can help you learn what’s in your food and make smarter choices. The more you practice how to read food labels, the easier it gets.