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Nutrition Facts: An interactive guide to food labels
Use this interactive guide to the Nutrition Facts label to help understand what you're eating so that you can make healthier choices.
By Mayo Clinic staffThe Nutrition Facts label is a boxed panel required by the Food and Drug Administration on most packaged food and beverage products. The Nutrition Facts label provides detailed information about the nutrient content of the product. The label — sometimes called the nutrition information panel — is intended to help you make healthier choices. The required information is standard, but the specific nutrients vary depending on the food product.
You can read the Nutrition Facts label to determine the amounts of such nutrients as fat, sodium and fiber in specific products. Knowing this information can help you decide whether a food or beverage fits in to your eating plan or is appropriate if you have certain health conditions, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. It also enables you to compare similar products to see which one might be a healthier choice.
The more practice you get reading food labels, the better you can become in using them as a tool to plan your healthy, balanced diet.
Move your mouse pointer over this sample Nutrition Facts label to see what all the different terms and numbers mean.
- Eating healthier and feeling better using the Nutrition Facts Food Label. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/LabelingNutrition/ConsumerInformation/UCM120909.pdf. Accessed Nov. 12, 2009.
- How to understand and use the nutrition facts label. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/ConsumerInformation/ucm078889.htm. Accessed Nov. 12, 2009.
- Nelson JK (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Nov. 24, 2009.
- Zeratsky KA (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Nov. 25, 2009.
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