The Proper Way to Read a Nutrition Label, According to a Dietitian

In many ways, a trip to the grocery store is where your diet is going to either go well or go off the rails. With thousands of packaged foods available to anyone who ventures into any supermarket, it’s vital to be more informed about which ones are better for you and which are nutritional duds. That means you shouldn’t be missing the opportunity to skim the back of food and drink packages to analyze the ubiquitous nutrition label. This is where you’ll obtain some important nutrition intel about your pasta, yogurt and protein powder.

Research shows that people who take the time to analyze nutrition labels when grocery shopping typically consume higher-quality diets including more whole grains and vegetables.

But do you fully understand what is being told to you on this part of food packaging? You may have noticed the label now seems a bit different — and that’s because it recently got a much-needed facelift. A few important changes were made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal agency in charge of determining what goes on nutrition labels, to make it more current and easier for consumers like you and me to recognize what is in the products they are dropping into their shopping carts.

Line by line, here is how to decode the mystery of the nutrition label on the foods and drinks you consume so you can eat better to nail your health and physique goals.

Serving Size

Located directly beneath the “Nutrition Facts” title you’ll see the Serving Size. This is the servings per container and the serving size that the nutrition information for the product is based on. For instance, this could state something along the lines of 4 servings per container with a serving size of 2/3 cup (55 g).

If you are keeping tabs on your overall calorie intake for various reasons including a goal of staying ripped you certainly need to pay attention to the serving information on the nutrition facts panel. Serving sizes for everything from boxed cereal to butter are now based on the amount of food people will typically consume. After all, whoever just ate 1/3 cup of ice cream or 1/4 cup of granola? The FDA believes this more accurately reflects what the average American consumes today. Food producers have been guilty of posting unrealistically lower serving sizes to make their nutrition numbers look better.

The serving size, however, is not necessarily an indication of how much you personally should eat. Your actual serving size should be based on your individual needs. For instance, if you are in a phase of intense training then you may want to consume greater serving amounts of some products than what is stated on the label as a way to meet your increased caloric needs. Straying from the posted serving size will require a recalculation of the calories and nutrients you are taking in – scale up or down.

Another useful label update: The serving size font is larger and in bold so it’s harder to miss the portions contained in a particular food or drink. Good for aging eyes.

For foods that might be consumed in one sitting—such as a bag of chips or pretzels—the new label features dual column labels that provide calorie and nutrition information for both one serving and for the whole package. In many cases, it’s best to not go big on these foods.

Calories

The number of advertised calories on the nutrition label tells you how much energy (calories) you’ll be deriving from the indicated serving size for the food or beverage. On the old label, calories were listed in plain text, making them easier to overlook when quickly scanning the back of a package. On the new and improved version, the calories in each designated serving size are listed in larger and bolder text making them stand out. Now you have less of an excuse to be aloof to the calories in a serving of Chunky Monkey.

Again, factor in your actual serving size for a true calorie count if it differs from what the label suggests. People will need varying amounts of daily calories based on several factors including training volume and body size. And, remember, there is a lot more to good nutrition than counting calories. A package of pistachios will state a higher calorie count than a package of Cheetos but one is a lot more nutrient-dense. (I’ll let you guess which one.) With this said, calories in and calories out matter when it comes to maintaining a healthy body weight. Thermodynamics is still a thing.

% Daily Value (DV)

DVs help consumers figure out how much of a particular nutrient a serving of a food contains relative to the recommended daily intake. In other words, it lets you quickly spot whether a food or beverage is a good source of macronutrients and certain vitamins and minerals. A 15 percent DV for fiber means one serving of that food provides 15 percent of the fiber many people should consume in a day. You can use the 5-20 rule, which means if the daily value listed for a particular nutrient on the nutrition facts panel is 5% or less, that is considered low and 20% or more is considered high.

You can use DVs to compare similar food and drink products to help you make better choices based on what you want more of (i.e. fiber, potassium) and what you may want less of (i.e. saturated fat, sodium).

FYI, this percentage is based on a 2,000-calorie diet. So if you require more or fewer calories than 2,000 the DV for the items listed on the panel will be a bit off for you. Personal nutritional needs vary. The DVs for certain nutrients have changed from what was used on the old labeling system, so the labels have been updated accordingly.

Total Fat

Here, you’ll see how much total fat, saturated fat and trans fat are in the product. Since fat is so calorie-dense, the higher the number the greater the overall calories will be. The FDA’s implemented ban on trans fats went into effect on June 18, 2018, so it’s much more common now to see 0 grams listed beside trans fats on the nutrition label. That’s good news since this fat is a man killer.

While it can be tempting to fixate on the total grams of fat, not all fats are created equal. Generally, you want to eat more grams of unsaturated (mono and poly) fat and fewer grams of saturated and trans fat. Since monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat levels are not listed on the nutrition facts panel you need to estimate how much you are getting. This can be accomplished by subtracting the total grams of fat minus the grams of fat from saturated and trans. The DV for saturated fat is set at 20 grams a day. So if a product has 5 grams of saturated fat it will have 25% of the DV.

Cholesterol

This is the first thing listed on the nutrition facts panel after the fat numbers. The DV of dietary cholesterol is no more than 300 milligrams a day. But if you are healthy and free of heart disease or diabetes, fussing about the cholesterol numbers in a product is not particularly important. For many people, saturated fat and trans fat intake, and overall dietary patterns, have a bigger impact on our blood cholesterol numbers and heart disease risk than dietary cholesterol. The Dietary  Guidelines for Americans no longer set a hard limit on cholesterol intake. Still, it’s probably wise not to include too many products in your shopping cart that approach the 100% DV for cholesterol. So consider eggs and shrimp your cholesterol splurges.

Sodium

Next comes sodium, most often included in products in the form of sodium chloride (aka salt). It’s a good idea to compare products such as tomato sauces and crackers and select those that list fewer milligrams (mg) of sodium in a serving size, ideally 20% or less of DV per serving.

Although there’s some debate over how much sodium we should be consuming in our diets, major health organizations including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend that adults aim to limit their sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day, the amount in less than 3/4 teaspoon of salt. (Note: Our bodies require only about 500mg daily of sodium to function properly.) This is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in society. Just keep in mind that the DV for sodium on the nutrition facts panel is based on an upper limit of 2,300 mg, not 1,500 mg.

Carbohydrates

This number represents the sum of starch, sugar and fiber in a serving size. While sugar and fiber must be listed under carbohydrates, food manufacturers aren’t obligated to mention starch, the main type of carb you’ll find in stuff like pasta and potatoes. You can get a good idea of the starch content in a product by subtracting total carbs from the sum of dietary fiber and total sugars.

Dietary Fiber

The DV for dietary fiber is 28 grams, which is 100% DV. The total amount of fiber listed on the nutrition facts panel will be the sum of naturally occurring fibers and any added by manufacturers during processing such as the chicory root fiber pumped into some protein bars. We should not expect that all packaged foods will list a presence of dietary fiber, which includes meat, but for items like bread and cereals, it’s a smart move to compare and drop those that list more grams of fiber into your shopping cart.

A higher fiber diet is a surefire way to bolster heart health, increase satiety, and support your microbiome. So if one brand of bread lists 1 gram of fiber in a single slice serving and another has 3 grams, the latter might be what you want to make your lunch sandwich with. Personally, I think most guys should aim for closer to 35 grams of fiber per day, an indication of a diet that is based on more whole foods.

Total Sugars

The total grams of sugar listed on a label includes both that which occurs naturally in the food or drink such as lactose in dairy and fructose in fruit, and what is added by the manufacturer. No DV has been established for total sugars because no agreed upon recommendation has been made for the total amount to eat in a day.

One significant change on the updated label is that it is now required for products that contain added sugars to list the amount of total sugar that is made up of them. That’s important information you now have privy to as most research suggests that it’s the added sugars in our diet that play a bigger role in health outcomes than the sugars naturally occurring in foods. Before this important labelling regulation it was nearly a Sisyphean effort to know how much added sugar was in a food or drink.

By paying attention to the “Includes g Added Sugar” on the nutrition facts panel you may be surprised just how much of the sweet stuff is added to some of your favorite foods including flavored yogurts,  salad dressings and breakfast cereals. Again, having this information available to you makes it easier to choose better products. Keep in mind that so-called “natural sugars” like honey and pure maple syrup are included in the added sugars calculation. Just because a sugar seems more wholesome doesn’t mean you should give them a free pass.

Protein

There is no DV for this important macro, but dietary guidelines state that adults require 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight. So if a product states that it contains 10 grams of protein, this would be roughly 16% of the daily need for protein for someone who weighs 77 kg (170 pounds). However, it’s widely accepted that most people, especially those who are training to gain more muscle, would benefit by consuming at least 1.6 grams of protein for each kilo of body weight. So it helps to get what you need by seeking out some products that list higher protein numbers. But not all products are meant to contain protein. A can of coconut milk and a bag of frozen berries will naturally be protein-light.

Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, Potassium

The amount of vitamins A and C have been removed from the updated nutrition facts label because deficiencies in these vitamins are rare in the U.S. (Food companies can still list these nutrients on their nutrition labels if they choose.) Instead, the FDA has called out vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium as these are nutrients of concern in the American diet. Ergo, it can be a good idea to keep an eye out for products that have a higher DV of these nutrients. But don’t overlook the whole package. Just because something has 25% of the DV of calcium doesen’t necessarily make it a nutritional standout if it’s also high in added sugars, saturated fat, or questionable additives.

Remember that there are numerous other micronutrients like magnesium and zinc that are not found on the label but are most certainly an essential part of a healthy diet. Eating a whole foods-based diet made up of a large variety of foods will make it easier to reach your requirements for all the necessary nutrients.