Nutrition Facts Labels: What They Are & Why You Should Read Them
When we’re at the grocery store and pick up pre-packed items, odds are, they have a Nutrition Facts Label on their packaging. These labels will not be found on raw produce (fruits, vegetables) or foods that contain insignificant amounts of all required nutrients such as packaged teas and coffees. They are required for the following reasons: the food item makes some sort of nutrient claim (ex. “high in fiber”), the company which produces the product has more than $50,000 in food sales and more than $500,000 total sales, the company which produces the product has more than 10 full time equivalent (FTE) employees or sales of more than 100,000 units. Food companies will traditionally begin adding these labels to their products when they hit these benchmarks for the purposes of consumer transparency. Nutrition Facts Labels inform consumers of the products nutrient contents; calories, fat, sugar, protein, vitamins and minerals are all nutrition information that can be found on the label.
Nutrition Facts Label transparency became a requirement for pre-packaged foods beginning in 1990 after Congress passed the Nutrition Labeling and Education act of 1990 which organized the Nutrition Facts Label in an easy to follow way which could be updated as nutrition knowledge grew. Verbiage direct from the bill states the following requirements of the panel, “(1) the serving size or other common household unit of measure customarily used; (2) the number of servings or other units per container; (3) the number of calories per serving and derived from total fat and saturated fat; (4) the amount of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, sugars, total protein, and dietary fiber per serving or other unit; and (5) subject to conditions, vitamins, minerals or other nutrients. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) require certain information to be highlighted; (2) require additional nutrients to be included in the labeling; or (3) exempt nutrients from the labeling requirement.” These requirements have been revamped in the year 2016 wherein: there has been the addition of an added sugars line, the layout places greater emphasis on calories, the definition of fiber has been updated, there is new emphasis on vitamins and minerals where nutrient deficiencies occur, the daily recommended intake for several nutrients has been updated, there is a dual-column format for packages with 2-3 servings.
The required pieces of the nutrition facts panel include: serving size and number of servings per container, calories per serving (and per container if you have 2-3 servings in your package), total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, fiber, sugar, added sugar, protein, Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, Potassium, actual value for the amount of the nutrient, and the percentage of the daily recommended value of that nutrient the serving provides.
So why are they important to you and I? They can be a very valuable tool for personal health. Every time we read a nutrition facts label, we glean information about the contents and what they can contribute to our daily intake. They can be used as a guide for portion control as they direct us to a suggested serving size- this combined with our judgement and knowledge of our own daily dietary needs can help us make a more informed decision about how each food item fits in the balance of our combined intake.
Based on a recent diagnosis or other personal reasons, maybe you’re looking to decrease your daily intake of sodium…giving the Nutrition Facts Label a glance can help! Simply look for the Sodium line; based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet, the Daily Value for Sodium is 2,300 milligrams (mg) per day. A sodium-free product will have less than 5 mg of sodium per serving and a low sodium product will have 140 mg or less of sodium per serving.
Give the Nutrition Facts Label a gander the next time you go grocery shopping - an informed consumer is a healthy consumer!
