How to Understand Percentages on Food Labels

Reading the nutrition labels on food is an important step to developing a healthier, balanced diet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires food manufacturers to print certain nutritional information. Protein percentages are only required if the manufacturer touts the food as "high protein," and sugar percentages aren't required because there are no proven daily sugar requirements.

Instructions

• 1

  Calculate your daily caloric needs based on your height, weight, gender and lifestyle. If you want to maintain your current weight, that average number of calories burned each day will also be the number of calories you should consume. See the daily caloric intake calculator in the "Resources" section below.

• 2

  Read the nutrition label. The FDA requires nutrition labels to list certain ingredients, their weight, and what percentage of your daily dietary value they contain. The percentage figure tells you what percentage of a single serving of a certain food fulfills your daily recommended intake. For example, if a food package says "15% sodium," that means a single serving of that food will fulfill 15% of your recommended daily intake of sodium. You will still have to eat foods to cover the other 85% for the day.

  The percentages are based on a 2,000-calorie daily diet. Use the percentages to determine if the food is high (over 20%) in a certain ingredient or low (under 5%) . Aim for low percentages in fats, cholesterol and sodium, and for high percentages in dietary fiber and vitamins.

• 3

  Interpret the percentages based on your daily caloric intake recommendation. If your daily caloric intake is 2,500 calories, the percentages published on nutrition labels will skew slightly lower since your allowances will go up in all categories. If there is room on the packaging, some labels will publish adjusted daily values for a 2,500-calorie diet underneath the rest of the nutrition facts, so you will have an easier point of reference. If your daily recommended caloric intake is lower than 2,000 calories, the percentages will skew slightly higher.

• 4

  Keep an eye on serving sizes when eating. If packaged foods come in pairs, the nutritional information is often based on eating only one of the two. If you plan to eat both, double the percentages on the package to get an accurate count.