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Just about every packaged food made in the U.S. has a food label indicating serving size and other nutritional information. The "Nutrition Facts" food labels are intended to give you information about the specific packaged food in question.

Measurements of fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, protein, vitamins and minerals are calculated for a typical portion. This information makes it easier for you to purchase foods that will fit into your meal plan and help control your blood glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure and weight. However, reading these labels can be confusing. Below is an example of a Nutrition Facts label, along with explanations of its components.

Serving Size: Serving size is based on the amount of food people typically eat at a given meal. This may or may not be the serving amount you normally eat. It is important that you pay attention to the serving size, including the number of servings in the package and compare it to how much you actually eat. The size of the serving on the food package influences all the nutrient amounts listed on the top part of the label. For example, if a package has 4 servings and you eat the entire package, you quadruple the calories, fat, etc. that you have eaten.

Do not confuse portion size with serving size. A portion size is what you chose to eat there are no standard measures for this. A serving size is a standard amount used to help give advice about how much to eat. It helps you identify how many calories are in the foods you eat and what the nutritional content would be in a serving size. For example a slice of bread is a serving size of one for bread on the food pyramid. Yet if you eat a sandwich with 2 slices of bread, you would have had 2 servings of bread in your portion.

Calories and Calories From Fat: The number of calories and grams of nutrients are provided for the stated serving size. This is the part of the food label where you will find the amount of fat per serving.

Nutrients: This section lists the daily amount of each nutrient in the food package. These daily values are the reference numbers that are set by the government and are based on current nutrition recommendations. Some labels list daily values for both 2,000 and 2,500 calorie diets.

"% Daily Value" shows how a food fits into a 2,000 calorie/day diet. For diets other than 2,000 calories, divide by 2,000 to determine the % Daily Value for nutrients. For example, if you are following a 1,500 calorie diet, your % Daily Value goal will be based on 75% for each nutrient, not 100%.

When it comes to fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, choose foods with a low % Daily Value. For total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals, try to reach your goal for each nutrient.

Ingredients: Each product should list the ingredients on the label. They are listed from largest to smallest amount (by weight). This means a food contains the largest amount of the first ingredient and the smallest amount of the last ingredient.

Understanding Label Claims

Another aspect of food labeling is label claims. Some food labels make claims such as "low cholesterol" or "low fat." These claims can only be used if a food meets strict government definitions. Here are some of the meanings:

Some other important terms that are found on food labels include information on the amount of salt:

Remember that one teaspoon of salt contains 2000 mg of salt.

Reviewed by Certified Diabetes Educators in the Department of Patient Education and Health Information and by physicians in the Department of Endocrinology at The Cleveland Clinic.

Edited by John Seibel, MD, WebMD, December 2006.