How to Read Nutrition Facts Labels the Right Way
Key takeaways:
Reading nutrition labels helps you choose the healthiest foods.
Some nutrients and ingredients on a label are generally good for you — like protein, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. Others, such as saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium, should be limited.
In addition to the nutrition label, it is also important to look at the serving size and ingredients to guide you in making healthy choices.
Table of contents
In order to eat healthy, it’s essential to know what goes into foods. Learning how to read nutrition labels is a great place to start and can help guide your food choices.
Most people are familiar with these labels, which are found on most packaged food items. They list what nutrients and ingredients the item contains. But reading and interpreting them can be a bit confusing, especially since the FDA periodically makes changes to what is listed and how they appear.
Here is what you need to know about nutrition facts to help you choose the best food products for you and your family.
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What is commonly found on a nutritional label?
There are many items that are required to be listed on a nutrition label. These include:
Servings per container
Serving size
Calories
Total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat
Cholesterol
Sodium
Total carbohydrates
Dietary fiber
Total sugars and added sugars
Protein
Vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, iron, and potassium
Here’s how to interpret some of these terms and nutrients:
1. Serving size
It is important to note that serving sizes listed on a Nutrition Facts label are not recommendations on how much of a food you should be eating. While they are intended to reflect how much of a particular food people actually consume, they are to be used as a reference. It is very possible that your portion size — the amount you eat — may be more or less than the listed serving size.
2. Calories
Calories from foods that are packed with healthy nutrients — such as nuts or whole grain oats — are used by the body much differently than calories from ultra-processed foods, like cookies or soda. Calories from these foods are often called “empty calories,” because they have less nutritional value. They are also usually higher in sugar and less healthy fats.
So, when it comes to calories, quality matters much more than quantity. It’s best to get your calories from whole, unprocessed foods as often as possible.
3. Total sugars and added sugars
Listing total sugars and added sugars is one of the major recent changes to nutrition labels. Here’s the breakdown of these two.
Total sugar
This refers to the total amount of sugar in a serving of the food. It includes both naturally occurring and added sugars. Some foods that have naturally occurring sugar include fruit and dairy products.
Added sugar
This indicates how many grams of the total sugar were added to the food item during the manufacturing process. Most Americans consume too much added sugar from foods like:
Baked goods, including breads and pastries
Desserts
Sweetened beverages
Snack foods
Flavored yogurts
Condiments like coffee creamers, barbeque sauce, and salad dressings
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Eating too much added sugar is linked to an increased risk of multiple diseases. This is why the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends people limit added sugars to less than 10% of daily calories. So for someone who eats about 2,000 calories per day, this would equal about 50 grams of sugar per day.
The American Heart Association provides even stricter guidelines. They recommend limiting your intake of sugars per day to no more than the following:
Women: 25 g
Men: about 37 g
While paying attention to all sources of sugar is good for your health, it’s best to pay extra close attention to added sugars on a nutrition label.
4. Bad fats and healthy fats
Nutrition labels are required to list the total fat, saturated fat, and trans fats on packaged food products. It’s important to choose foods with the right kinds of fats. Here are the differences between the fats you’ll see on the label.
Bad fats
Saturated and trans fats are the less healthy types of fats. Consuming them may have negative health effects, including an increased risk of developing heart disease. Let’s take a closer look below.
Saturated fats
Saturated fats are solid at room temperature and come from foods like butter and shortening. They are also naturally found in dairy products and meats. Eating too much of this fat can raise “bad” cholesterol.
Trans fats
Trans fats are the most harmful type of fat to your health. They are linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes. In addition, most trans fats are made by humans in a lab, so they are highly processed. Because of their harmful effects, the FDA has placed a ban on their use in the food supply.
However, foods that contain less than 0.5 g per serving are allowed to list the trans fats as 0 g on a nutrition label, so consumption of these fats is still possible. Foods that may contain small amounts of trans fats include:
Packaged baked goods
Ready-to-eat frozen meals
Refrigerated doughs
Fried foods
Margarine
Shortening
Another way to find out whether a particular food contains trans fats is to check the ingredients list for “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” oils.
Healthy fats
Healthy fats are those that come from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated sources, particularly omega-3 fatty acids. These fats can protect your health by:
Lowering bad cholesterol levels
Increasing good cholesterol levels
Reducing blood pressure
Improving blood sugar levels
Possibly helping inflammatory-related conditions, like asthma and arthritis
Healthy fats can be a bit harder to find on a nutrition label. They are not required to be listed under “total fat,” although some food manufacturers may voluntarily do so. Even if a product does not list these fats, you can identify them by becoming familiar with the sources of each type of fat. Sources of monounsaturated fats include:
Nuts, seeds, and nuts (or seed) butters
Olives
Avocados
Oils made from the above items (olive oil, for example)
Sources of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats include:
Fish
Cod liver oil
Walnuts
Chia, hemp, and flax seeds
5. Protein
Protein is important to your health and can help you:
Feel satisfied after a meal
Manage your weight
Many people eat enough protein each day, yet they often do so in an imbalanced way. Rather than getting most of your protein at lunch or dinner, for example, it’s best to spread it out throughout the day across all meals and snacks. A good goal is to aim to consume the following amounts of protein during the day:
At each meal: 20 g to 30 g (about one small chicken breast or fish filet)
With snacks: About 10 g to 15 g (about two eggs or half a cup of Greek yogurt)
Also, keep in mind that more isn’t necessarily better. Too much protein can lead to gut or kidney problems. While protein needs are unique to each person, the general recommendation for most adults is around 0.8 g of protein per kg of body weight.
6. Vitamins and minerals
At the bottom of the nutrition label is a list of other vitamins and minerals that may be present in the food. Currently, food manufacturers are required to list the percent daily value for the following vitamins and minerals:
Potassium
Vitamin D
Calcium
Iron
Other vitamins and minerals may also be listed voluntarily.
Which nutrients should you get more (or less) of?
There are a variety of nutrients that all play a role in protecting your body from diseases and imbalances. It’s a good idea to choose foods that contain higher amounts of these. Examples include:
A food that has more of these nutrients will have a higher percent daily value beside it on the label. (More below on reading percent daily values.)
What should I avoid in the ingredients list?
Under the nutrition label, you will find a list of ingredients, which are listed in order of weight. So the first ingredient in the list is the most abundant in that particular food.
In general, the shorter the ingredients list, the better. Longer ingredients lists tend to imply more highly processed foods. They may contain things like preservatives, food dyes, and fillers. When looking at an ingredients list, look for words you recognize and can pronounce. Try to avoid products that contain ingredients like:
Partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils
Other names for sugar, such as high-fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, and dextrose
Refined oils such as vegetable, soybean, or canola oil
Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose
Artificial colorings such as blue 1, red 3, and yellow 6
What do percent daily values on a nutrition label mean?
The percent daily value (%DV) is listed on the right side of the label. It tells you how much of a nutrient in a serving of the food contributes to the total recommended amount or limit for the day. Some nutrients do not have a percent daily value.
The research on how to determine the daily value is ever changing, so these percentages can also change based on new evidence. It is best to use the percent daily value as a loose guideline. But keep in mind that it doesn’t fully explain how a food measures up for your specific needs.
The bottom line
Understanding how to read nutrition labels is an important skill to help you eat more healthily. While there are many items on the label to keep track of, with time and practice you’ll become familiar with what each of them means.
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References
American Heart Association. (n.d.). Added sugar is not so sweet - infographic.
American Heart Association. (2017). Trans fat.
Carbone, J. W., et al. (2019). Dietary protein and muscle mass: Translating science to application and health benefit. Nutrients.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (n.d.). USDA-HHS response to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: Using the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s report to develop the dietary guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.
Leidy Heather, J. (2015). The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Marcus, J. B. (2013). Chapter 1 - Nutrition basics: What is inside food, how it functions and healthy guidelines: The nutrients in foods and beverages in healthy cooking and baking. Culinary Nutrition.
National Institute on Aging. (2022). How to read food and beverage labels.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2003). Small Entity Compliance guide: Trans fatty acids in nutrition labeling, nutrient content claims, and health claims.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Changes to the nutrition facts label.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Daily value on the new Nutrition and Supplement Facts labels.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Food serving sizes have a reality check.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022). How to understand and use the Nutrition Facts label.
