Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Chapter 3 Nutrition 91
he goal of making good food choices is to provide the right amount
of nutrients for your body. Another goal is to make sure the foods
and beverages you put into your body are safe.
One of the most helpful strategies for making good food choices is to
carefully read the information provided on a packaged food label. These
labels contain valuable information about that food, such as how long it
will remain fresh, how it should be stored, and the type of nutrients it pro-
vides. This section will focus on the important information provided on
food labels and how you can avoid becoming ill from the foods you eat.
Understanding Nutrition Facts Labels
To help consumers make good choices about
what they eat, the FDA requires any food sold
in a package to include a Nutrition Facts label
(Figure 3.16). Certain pieces of information are
required to be printed on the Nutrition Facts la-
bel, including
• serving size (the volume or weight of a
single serving of the food);
• number of servings in a package;
• number of calories in each serving;
• number of calories from fat in each serving;
• amount of different nutrients (including
fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates,
fi bers, sugars, protein, and some vita-
mins and minerals) in a serving; and
• percent of daily values for the different
nutrients provided in a serving.
Daily Values
Daily Values, which are printed at the bot-
tom of the food label panel, are the recom-
mended intake amounts for specifi c nutrients.
Daily Values are provided for both 2,000-calorie
and 2,500-calorie diets. The Daily Values for a
2,000-calorie diet are used to calculate the Per-
cent (%) Daily Values for the nutrients on the
panel. These percentages, therefore, could be
higher or lower depending on an individual’s daily calorie needs.
The % Daily Value signals whether a serving of food contributes a lot
or a little of a particular nutrient to your total daily diet. For example, sup-
pose a food item’s % Daily Value for calcium is 20. That means one serving
of the food supplies 20% of the daily requirement for calcium for an indi-
vidual on a 2,000-calorie diet.
T
A Nutrition Facts label
outlines the nutritional value
of a food. Why do you think
nutrition information is
required to be printed on
packaged foods?
Figure 3.16
Daily Values
the recommended amounts
of nutrients that a person
should consume each day