Older Adults: Learning Labels

• Servings per container inform you how many total servings are found in the package you are inspecting. For example, some beverage bottles  may actually provide two or more servings despite  the tendency to consume the whole bottle all at  once. This is helpful to look for and keep in mind when preparing and eating foods, since the nutrition facts provided may be for a smaller or larger serving size than you normally consume.
• Serving size informs the amount of food from that package that is typically eaten at one time. This is not a recommendation of how much to eat, but rather provides guidance on what kind of nutrition you are obtaining from eating a typical amount of that particular food. If you eat more than one serving size, you can do the math to calculate what the actual amount of nutrition you obtained from that food was.
• Calories are the total amount of energy you are receiving from one serving of that food. Your body requires calories to fuel many functions including breathing and pumping blood, not just physical activity. Matching the amount of calories you consume to the amount you typically burn in a day can help you maintain and manage your weight. Nutrition labels use 2,000 calories/day as the general guide for adult caloric needs, but calorie needs may vary based on the individual.
• % Daily Value (%DV) represents how much of a nutrient in a serving of that food contributes to the total daily recommended needs. %DV can be used to estimate if a food is high or low in a certain nutrient. For example, if you are looking at increasing your fiber intake, a food with 10% DV of dietary fiber would get you to 10% of your daily dietary fiber needs.

 

A printable version of the Learning Labels for Older Adults Fact sheet can be viewed here.