This post first appeared in August 2019. It was last updated in November 2020

Why These Labels Are Important

Nutrition Facts labels are so important to read!

Not only do they tell you what ingredients are in the foods that you are eating, but it also tells you what macronutrients (carbs, fats, protein) & micronutrients (vitamins & minerals) you are about to consume. 

Even if you don’t track your calories and/or macros, it’s still important to take a glance at the facts to see what you’re eating.

Because what we eat can effect both our energy levels and our health goals.

Plus, being able to read a nutrition facts label empowers us to:

• Make healthier and more informed decisions for ourselves and/or our families

• Allows us to have a better understanding of nutrition as a whole

• Allows us a better understanding of the ingredients that we are consuming

• Can show us how our bodies respond, & therefore, feel, after we eat certain types of foods (processed v unprocessed whole foods)

How to Read a Nutrition Facts Label

I broke the nutrition facts label down into 4 separate parts, making it easier to follow along!

Main Components *Old Label*:

*anything in bold needs to be on EVERY label, anything not in bold doesn’t have to appear on a label unless a specific claim about it has been made - example: “a good source of fiber” claim means the fiber amount needs to be included on the label

Section One:

Serving Size: The recommended serving size from that company - this doesn’t necessarily mean you should eat that amount as some people should eat more or less depending on their health needs

Having a “serving size” listed helps keep the nutrients listed below consistent (each nutrient amount given is based off of 1 serving size)

Servings Per Container: How many individual serving sizes there are.

If there’s 3 servings in 1 bag of chips, and you eat the whole bag, you need to multiply all the nutrient facts by 3 to get an accurate count.

Example - you eat a whole bag of pretzels that is listed at 100 calories/serving & 3 grams of fat/serving. Since there are 3 servings in the bag & an entire bag was eaten, you consumed a total of 300 calories & 9g of fat.

Section Two:

Calories: total calories per serving size

Calories from Fat: total calories from fat per serving size

Cholesterol: total cholesterol per serving size

Sodium: total sodium per serving size

Total Carbohydrates: total carbs per serving size

Protein: total protein per serving size

Section Three:

Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, Calcium % Daily Value: percent daily value of the specific micronutrient per serving size based on a 2,000 calorie diet

% Daily Value (listed in the right-hand column): always listed as per serving size & based on a 2,000 calorie diet

*note that not everyone needs to eat a 2,000 calorie diet. This is just the standard that is set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to keep labels consistent across all foods & companies

Section Four:

List of all bolded nutrients and their specific amounts based off of a 2,000 calorie diet & a 2,500 calorie diet

What’s Changing

In 2020, the layout of the Nutrition Facts label will be changing.

You may have already noticed some of these changes, but if not, you will come 2020, as all labels need to adhere to the following guidelines.

Main Components *New Label*:

Most of the standards of the labeling have not changed with the exception of what’s listed below:

Section One:

Serving Size: is now in bold & large print to make it easier to read & spot

*note that if the package contains 2 or 3 total servings, the nutrition facts sheet will be split in two and will list all of the info for 1 serving size as well as for the whole package.

This is because the FDA deems 3 servings or less to be “easily eaten in one sitting”

Section Two:

Total Calories: is now listed in bold font to make it easier to read & spot

Removal of Calories from Fat: because it was deemed unnecessary information by the FDA

Addition of Included Added Sugars: because this information is regarded as important for everyone & for the health of this country. We, therefore, should look out for this information & be aware of how many added sugars we are consuming.

*Note that we should keep the total number of added sugars to no more than 10% of total caloric intake (less than 12 tsp/day) with additional benefits coming from less than 5% of total caloric intake/day (less than 6 tsp) based of a 2,000 calorie diet

Section Three:

Swapped Out Vitamins A & C for the addition of Vitamin D & Potassium: This was done because the FDA believes that the US population gets enough vitamin A & C, and we should focus more on getting more Vitamin D & potassium

*Iron & Calcium are still listed

Section Four:

Completely removed

How to Know What to Look For

The 5 & 20 Rule is a good guide to use when trying to figure out if a particular food is going to fit within your eating plan.

The 5 & 20 rule means to look at the % Daily Value (DV) & if it has 5% of less DV, it is a poor source of that nutrient.

If it has a %DV of 20 or higher, it would be considered a good source of that nutrient.

*Caution* this does not mean you can just look at %DV and call it a day, you need to look at what nutrient it is referring to. 

Example: A food, such as almonds, would be considered a good source of protein if the %DV for protein was 20% or higher.

But if a food’s %DV sodium count was 20% or higher, you wouldn’t necessarily want to choose that food because sodium should be limited (i.e. there are better sources of food with a lower sodium count to look for).

On the flip side, it would be considered a good selection if the %DV of sodium was 5% or less, but not a good source of protein if the %DV of protein was 5% or less (i.e. there are better sources of protein to look for).

*Remember all %DVs are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

There you have it!

Everything you need to know to read a nutrition facts label, as well as what you can expect to see changing in 2020!

If you found this post helpful, I’d love for you to share it so others can learn more about the nutrition facts label & be empowered to make the right choices for themselves!

And if you have additional questions, or need clarification, please don’t hesitate to email me or leave your question below in the comments!

Stay Empower💪🏽

PS - You can learn more about the nutrition facts label here!

Shop This Post

Read Similar Posts

Photo by Ryan Quintal on Unsplash