Whether you're counting calories, avoiding saturated fat, or looking to increase your total vitamin intake, the nutrition label is where you get a clear idea of the composition of a particular food. In fact, there have been some major changes to the label over the past year, which is its first revision in more than 20 years. Several changes are based on new scientific research on nutrition and its relationship with health-conscious consumers.
Here's a rundown of the label's new look and what it means to you.
Portion size
When it comes to a balanced diet, everything in moderation is usually a good philosophy. Previously, the Nutrition Facts label included recommended serving sizes in small print just below the total number of servings per package. This often made it difficult to know how much food to eat. On the other hand, the serving sizes above for most foods were designed according to a different ideology and were no longer an exact reflection of how much a person should be consuming a particular food. The changes made the size of the text chunk much larger to make it more visible. The servings themselves have also been adjusted to reflect the new daily eating and serving guidelines.
Calories
As for the serving size text, the total calories text was slightly less than the FDA would have liked. The font size has been increased and updated in an attempt to be the first value a customer sees when scanning a label on a particular product. Knowing the calorie content of what you eat is imperative to avoid overeating. The average number of calories a person should consume on any given day is 2,000. However, this can vary depending on the person's weight, age, height, and level of physical activity.
Percent Daily Value
Percent Daily Values (% DV) was updated to 2020 standards in a new study. These numbers indicate how much a serving contributes to your total daily requirement for certain nutrients. Figures of 20% or more are considered high and 5% or less is considered less per serving. This is important when considering vitamins, as well as cholesterol and sodium.
Nutrient list
The changes made to this section of the label were the most important changes. Americans' eating habits and nutritional awareness have changed over the years, rendering some of the information previously in this section unnecessary. An example of this is the section formerly known as "calories from fat." Recent research has shown that the number of calories from total fat in a particular food is not as important to the diet as knowing how much saturated or trans fat a particular food contains. Vitamins A and C have also been removed from the label, as many Americans generally consume enough of them, and vitamin deficiencies are much less common than when the label was originally designed.
Added to this section are added sugars, vitamin D, and potassium. Added sugars are sugars that are added during processing or packaging during production. Vitamin D and potassium appear in this part of the label due to the fact that many consumers are at risk of deficiency due to their diet.
Author Bio: John Hinchey is Vice President of Sales for
Westfalia Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of logistics solutions for
factories, warehouses, and distribution centers. He has over 20 years of
warehouse automation and manufacturing experience.
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