Reading food nutrition labels is often tricky. Some labels can be confusing and may convince people to buy highly processed and unhealthy products.

But consumers are much more health-conscious than ever, which is why they want to understand the nutrition contents of the food items they wish to purchase. Nutrition labels can help make healthier eating choices and identify nutrient-dense foods for a healthy diet. But as food labeling regulations are complex, food labels are usually harder for consumers to understand.

Here are some tips to help make nutrition facts labels less confusing. 

Start with the Serving Information at the Top

You will get to know the size of a single serving and the total number of servings per container or package.

Check Total Calories Per Serving and Container

Look at the calories per serving and learn how many calories you’re really going to consume if you eat the whole package. With doubling the servings you eat, it will also double the calories and nutrients.

Understand % Daily Value

The % Daily Value (DV) tells us what percentage of nutrients single serving contains, in terms of the daily recommended amount. So, if you want to consume less of a nutrient, such as saturated fat or sodium, you may select foods with a lower % DV.

For foods with more healthier nutrients, choose foods with a higher % DV. In our nutrition label maker you will get all of these statistics calculated for you.

Get Enough of the Beneficial Nutrients

Ensure that you get enough of the nutrients your body needs, such as dietary fiber, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins A, C, D and E.

See the labels displaying food ingredients by quantity — from highest to lowest amount. It means the first ingredient is what the manufacturer used the most of. A good rule of thumb is to scan the first three ingredients, because they make up the largest part of what you will be consuming. So, try looking for products that display whole foods as the first three ingredients and be skeptical of foods with long lists of ingredients.

The Nutrition Claims

Food labels on packaged food items are intended to grab your attention and convince you that the food is healthy. But there are also claims which may be confusing.

Natural:

It doesn’t necessarily mean that the food product resembles anything natural. It may indicate that the manufacturer sourced natural ingredients like apples or rice.

Light:

Light food products are designed to be lower either fat or calories. Some of them are just watered down. So, what you need to do is to check carefully if anything has been added, such as sugar.

Organic:

Food labels will tell you very little about whether the food product is really healthy so always look at the ingredient list to get the full picture. Take the example of organic sugar, which is still sugar. Keep a lookout for this with your nutrition label maker.

Gluten-free:

A gluten-free food product simply doesn’t contain barley, spelt, wheat, or rye. Gluten-free food products may be highly processed and loaded with unhealthy fats and sugar.

More about the nutrition label

There are many more health claims to look out for nutrition label makers, such as zero trans fat, fruit-flavored, enriched, made with whole grains, low-carb, low-calorie, low-fat, and no added sugar, to name a few. These are marketing terms associated with improved health and often confuse consumers. It is wise to read the nutrition facts labels and ingredient statements carefully. If you need a solution for a cycling menu we recommend you to read more about our cycle menus here.

Products and brands are reviewed for a plethora of purposes. However, many customers want to know about the facts successfully and conveniently for whatever purpose. The label checking abilities can help you to utilize facts about the nutrition-labeled products for rapid product selections. Hence, it will help you to will select a balanced diet.

The food labeling in the major and upper parts might differ depending on the variety of foods product; it comprises knowledge about the commodities. 

Here is a brief primer on reading the Nutrition facts label.

• Check for the labeling of the food product (the quantity of food that most people consume at one time) and the number of serves in the box.
• Check your food portions (the quantity you should consume) given in the table of the product. The nutritional values apply to the servings. 
• You should determine the total quantity of calories.
  

Here is a video describing how you can use NutritionistPro™ for nutrition label creation and patient calculations.

Percentage Daily Values Guide

Use percentage daily value (%DV) to determine how a particular item meets your regular dietary pattern. The %DV is for the whole day, should not be so much from one breakfast or lunch. Recommended standards are nutritional requirements considered average for a diet that contains. A meal with an average 6% DV of fat contains about 6% of the total fat that a person who consumes 2,500 calories a day should ingest every day. The term “high” refers to a percentage of 20% or above. Aim for a high intake of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Nutrition Points Checking

• Low calorie: each label should contain no more than 40 calories.
• 20 milligrams or less per serving, and 2g or even less fat.
• Contains at least about 26 percent and fewer or calories than the standard.
• Should consume a minimum 10 and maximum 19 percent of a specific vitamin or nutrient according to their daily value.
• Provides at least 20% of the Daily Value of a certain vitamin or nutrient per serving.
• Each label should have an average of 5 % calories
• Each label has less than 12 grams of fat or sugar.

Select foods that are low in saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium

• Less saturated fat added sugars, and salt can prevent chronic diseases.
• Saturated and Trans fats have been related to an increase in cardiovascular diseases.
• High sugar consumption makes it harder to achieve nutritional requirements while staying under your calorie limit.
• High sodium levels can lead to the risk of elevated blood pressure.

Consume an Appropriate Amount of daily use of supplements

• Consume extra fiber, vitamins, and minerals to stay healthy and lower your risk of certain health conditions. Most commonly, these are related to heart and blood pressure.
• These are cofactors of many important enzymes.
• To acquire more of these nutrients, eat more fruits and vegetables.
• Remember to strive for a high proportion of DV for these nutrients.

Consider the Supplemental Nutrients

• Are you aware of calories? It is critical to be mindful of the other nutrients that must be mentioned in every labeling of the products. Keep this in mind during the use of your nutrition label maker. 
• A percentage of the daily value of the protein is not so important to label on the food product. 
• For protein, one should include meat, eggs, yogurt, fish, and cheese in the diet.

Consumption of Carbohydrates

Simple carbohydrates, also known as sugars, are found in fruits as it contains fructose and milk due to lactose as an ingredient and refined forms such as table sugar due to the presence of sucrose in them. The Nutrition Facts also has been modified to incorporate added sugars. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans propose that added sugars account for not high. It should be 10% or less than the daily intake of calories.

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Many food products containing more than one food type must be labeled with all their ingredient lists. This list should be given in descending order of their weight. Those with the most money should mention the above. Individuals with dietary allergies, those who want to avoid pork or shellfish, those who wish to minimize added sugars, and those who prefer vegetarian diets will find this information very useful.

Nutrients limit of use

Dietary cholesterol, salt, and artificial sweeteners are food labels associated with detrimental health effects – and consumers ingest too much of them, as per prescribed levels for these commodities. They have been identified as micronutrients to be avoided. Excessive consumption of saturated fat and salt has been associated with a higher risk of developing medical conditions such as coronary disease and hypertension. Consuming too much-refined sugar may find it tougher to achieve important nutritional needs while staying below calorie limits.

What exactly are refined sugar, and how are they separate from free sugar?

Overall, carbohydrates on the Nutrition facts label include sweeteners present naturally in many nutritious foods and beverages, such as carbohydrates in dairy and fruits and any processed sugars in the goods. There is no Dietary Value for free sugar since there is no recommendation for consuming the total amount in a day.

The Food Labels include sugars incorporated throughout food preparation (sucrose or fructose), foods marketed as sweetening (such as refined sugar), sweeteners from flavorings and nectar, and sweeteners from a condensed piece of fruit juices. Diets high in calories from refined sugar might make it harder to achieve daily dietary requirements while staying under calorie limits.

Most of the minerals and vitamins are part of nutrition labels that most countries do not receive enough of. They have been recognized as nutrients that should be consumed in greater quantities. Eating a high-fiber diet can enhance bowel motility, the low sugar level in the patients, lessen cholesterol, and cut calorie consumption. These vitamins and mineral-rich diets help reduce the risk of osteoporotic fractures, anemia, and hypertension.

Customer review of NutritionistPro™

Renee at TheRealRenee uses our software create nutrition food labels, here is what she had to say about our nutrition label maker.

“I have been and will be continuing to use Nutritionist Pro™ to create the nutrition facts and labels for all of my products. It has been an extremely helpful system to make this task possible. The customer service has been fantastic at answering any questions I have had along the way.”

The Bottom Line:

If you understand food nutrition information on labels correctly, you can avoid being confused and make informed choices of food items that you want. However, as food manufacturers are bound to comply with the food labeling guidelines and are aware of the fact non-compliance invites scrutiny, they try to ensure food labels display all the required information.

In order to do so, food manufacturers implement a nutrition label maker application to calculate the nutritional values of their food items and generate food labels to meet food regulations.