Nutrition Facts Panel, Part 4: % Daily Values and Other Information

Feb 3

As I wrap up this Nutrition Facts series, it covers all the information at your fingertips on most of your foods. Today covers those percentages on the right side of the Nutrition Facts panel, how this may apply to you, and how you can use it even if those numbers aren't in line with your specific needs.

The series covered:

- Part 1: Serving Sizes, Servings Per Container, and Calories

- Part 2: Fats, Cholesterol, Carbohydrates, and Protein

- Part 3: Sodium, Potassium, and Other Vitamins and Minerals

- Part 4: % Daily Value and Other Information

The percent daily values (%DV) on the right side of the label alongside the nutrients are NOT the percentage of that nutrient in the food.

Said differently, some people will look at a label that lists a %DV for saturated fat at 13% and thinks that serving of the FOOD is 13% saturated fat. Never mind that this wouldn't make sense if the total fat is 5%.

If one is looking at the Nutrition Fact panel, look at the bottom, and it states this, "The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice."

So, keep this in mind: the %DV is listed based on the GENERAL recommendation of 2,000 calories per day. The nutrients for the person who needs/follows a 2,000 calorie per day diet is listed.

This number does not mean, nor is it suggesting that YOU need to follow a 2,000-calorie diet. We are all different, and we have different needs. How many calories do you need? It depends, and I explained that previously.

But some people have questioned why we use this value. It is just for REFERENCE. The logistics of having this application based on all people's differing needs is mind-boggling (at least, I think so). And maybe one day in the future, you could scan a code on the label to find how it applies to you, but we are not there now.

So, for years, I told people to pretty much ignore the %DV since unless they are the rare person who needs precisely 2,000 calories a day, it doesn't apply to you.

But in reality, even if it doesn't directly apply to you, you can make that % DV work for you in other ways.

USE THOSE PERCENTAGES

In general, you can look at those percentages and know if something is high or low in a nutrient.

For example, 5% or less is low, 20% or more is high.

Now whether you want high or low depends on the nutrient.

Nutrients with no %DV

Trans-fat has no %DV because we don't have an acceptable amount. The goal is to get ZERO, so there is no daily value here.

Sugar also does not have one because we focus more on ADDED sugars. But as I said in part 2, that line listing SUGAR has both added and naturally occurring sugars.

Protein is based on body weight and not usually a percentage of calories. Most people don't realize that we focus more on the grams of protein rather than the percentage from the diet.

Nutrients We Would Like to Have HIGH %DV

In general, we would like to have our fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium be higher in value. This higher number is not an absolute but a guideline. Even if something isn't close to 20%, we want foods that tend to have more of these nutrients in general, especially in comparison to the other nutrient that we want to below.

But because my food is only 5% of the DV of fiber, I should skip it. I can get it in other foods, and it will add up throughout the day.

Nutrients We Would Like to Have LOW %DV

Nutrients that we don't need to avoid altogether but minimize in our diet include saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars.

To reiterate: we don't need all our foods low in these nutrients, but in the context of your overall food choices during the day, we would want most of our choices to be low in these nutrients.

EXAMPLE: as I am looking at a package of "artisan" and "organic" chocolate chips with additional labels of soy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, GMO-free, dairy-free, and vegan… this has all the marketing jargon on the label. However, let's be honest: they are chocolate chips.

A serving is ONE tablespoon (really?) with 5% DV for total fat, 13% DV for saturated fat, 0% for cholesterol, sodium, vitamin D, and calcium. It is "only" 4% of the DV for total carbohydrate, 4% DV for fiber, and 16% DV for added sugars. And it has 2% DV for iron and 2% DV for potassium.

No one will consider this a healthy food choice; however, it is low in fat and low in total carbohydrates, but it is not "low" in saturated fat and added sugars, but it also isn't "high." But again, keep in mind this is all based on a ONE tablespoon serving. I won't get into the math, but the %DV will go up with higher servings sizes.

I still don't find this section of the Nutrition Facts panel very useful, considering we don't look at these percentages in isolation from other foods. But it may help you make some better choices.

For now, this concludes this series on the Nutrition Facts panel. However, some topics will come in later entries based on this series.

nutrition labelsnutrition factspercent daily values%DV