How Are Nutrition Recommendations Used on Food Labels?

By law food manufacturers must follow specific guidelines on their food labels with the purpose of informing consumers of the nutritional content of the food and to protect against misleading statements on food labels. Food labels contain the Nutrition Facts (Figure 3.2), which in most cases provide at least the following information:

• a listing of ingredients in descending order by weight
• serving size
• servings per container
• amount of the following per serving: total calories, total protein, calories contributed by fat, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, total carbohydrate, sugar, dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, sodium

As many individuals try to plan their nutrient intake, the nutrition facts also include the Daily Value (DV). The DV uses reference nutrition standards to indicate how a single serving of a food item relates to nutrition recommendation standards and include:
 

• a maximum of 30 percent total calories from fat, or less than 65 grams total
• a maximum of 10 percent total calories from saturated fat, or less than 20 grams
• a minimum of 60 percent total calories from carbohydrate
• 10 percent of total calories from protein

• 10 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories
• a maximum of 300 milligrams of cholesterol
• a maximum of 2,400 milligrams of sodium

Daily Values on food labels are designed to help people make better informed nutrition choices.
 

Furthermore, the DV for other nutrients, such as vitamins A and C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, and iron, are founded upon RDA-based standards and are presented in Table 3.3. However, these standards are not as specific for gender and age as the RDAs and therefore one quantity will apply to all people.
 

Daily Values are expressed as a percentage and is based on a 2,000 and/or a 2,500 calorie intake, which approximates most American’s recommended energy intake. Therefore a food providing 250 calories per serving will be listed as either 13 percent or 10 percent DV for a 2,000 and 2,500 calorie intake, respectively. Beyond the nutrition facts, food manufacturers must also follow federal guidelines for other statements they choose to make on a food label. Some of the statements are listed in Table 3.4.