Secrets of the Nutrition Fact Label
It can be easy to make the healthy choice — if you know where to look.
Article By: Julie Upton When you're losing weight with Weight Watchers, it's necessary that you know your way around all those abbreviations and numbers listed on food labels. The PointsPlus® values for thousands of foods are available to subscribers in our database, but occasionally you'll have to figure out one on your own, or using the PointsPlus calculator. In those cases, you'll need to look for the serving size, protein, total carbohydrate, total fat, and fiber.
Serving size: This is what the FDA says is a standard serving, which is uniform across product categories, making it easier to comparison shop. What you need to know is that the amount of nutrients is given per serving, and servings are often a fraction of the package contents. You need to multiply the information given by the number of servings you actually eat.
Servings per container: This is the number of servings in the entire package. For example, a 20-ounce bottle of soda holds 2 1/2 servings. If you drink it all (and who doesn't?), that means that you have to multiply the number of calories — and other nutrition facts — by 2 1/2.
Percent of daily value (%DV): These percentages indicate how much of each nutrient one serving provides as part of a 2,000-calorie diet. If you eat 1,200 or 3,000 calories a day, this percentage would be adjusted up or down. Five percent or less of the %DV is considered low, whereas 20% or more is considered high.
Protein: This is the amount of total protein the food contains measured in grams. The Percent Daily Value (%DV) for protein is 50 grams.
Total carbohydrate: This is the amount of total carbohydrate per serving measured in grams. It includes sugars plus complex carbohydrates that are more slowly digested.
Total fat: This is the total fat per one serving in grams. (Worth noting: fat provides the most calories of any nutrient.)
Dietary fiber: This is the amount of soluble and insoluble fiber (indigestible forms of carbohydrate) per serving. Fiber is found primarily in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and beans. Look for foods that are high in %DV for fiber.
What about the rest of the numbers?
There's a lot of other info on the labels. To help you decipher the terms and focus on factors that are important to you, keep reading.
Calories: This is the amount of calories per FDA standard serving.
Calories from fat: Each gram of fat provides 9 calories so you can figure out the total fat calories in the product by multiplying the total grams of fat by 9.
Saturated fat: Saturated fats, which are found in meat, poultry, fish, baked goods and tropical oils, increase risk of heart disease. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends no more than 7% of daily calories come from saturated fat, which is 15.5 grams of saturated fat per day. Opt for foods that have a low %DV of saturated fat.
Trans fats: Trans fats are even more harmful for the heart than saturated fats. The AHA recommends only up to 1% of total calories from trans fats. On a 2,000-calorie diet, that would be 2 grams. The food label does not list a %DV for trans fats.
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat: These are "good" unsaturated fats that may protect your heart when consumed in place of foods that contain saturated or trans fats. Labels may list these fats, but are not required to do so. If the label doesn't list poly- or monounsaturated fats, subtract the sum of the trans and saturated fat from total fat to calculate the grams of monos and polys.
Cholesterol: Dietary cholesterol, which should be limited for heart health, is found in meats, dairy products and in shrimp and egg yolks. The AHA recommends no more than 300 milligrams per day of cholesterol.
Sodium: The amount of sodium and the %DV should not exceed the 2,400 milligram-per-day limit set by the FDA.
Sugars: These are part of the grams of total carbohydrate but are the natural and added sugars per serving. There is no %DV for sugars. Choose foods that keep sugars low relative to total carbohydrate and fiber.
Vitamins and minerals: Food label are required to include Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Calcium and iron in terms of %DV that the serving provides. They sometimes also list additional vitamins and minerals. Look for foods that provide micronutrients to your diet.
Ingredients: The ingredient list includes all elements in a product listed by weight in descending order of amount contained in the product.
