 Welcome to the video, Dietary Manager Training, Understanding the Nutrition Facts Label. In this video, we'll take a closer look at the information on product labels concerning fat, fiber, and serving sizes. We'll also go through some examples for review. In 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was approved. This law requires that almost all processed foods that are meaningful sources of nutrients have information about nutritional content provided on their labels. Plain coffee and tea, spices, and foods produced by very small companies are excluded from the requirement. The following pages describe the elements of the Nutrition Facts Label and how consumers can use this information to make good choices. The serving size is a reasonable amount of food close to the portion most people would really eat. This serving size may or may not match the serving sizes listed on the Food Guide pyramid. The calories per serving are listed here. If you eat more or less than the stated serving size, the calories will increase or decrease accordingly. This section also gives the number of calories that come from fat. In this example, there are 150 calories per 9 taters. 60 of these calories come from fat. Our consumption of nutrients in this section is associated with such health concerns as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The total carbohydrate category includes complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and simple sugars. People with diabetes use this information to monitor their carbohydrate intake in order to control their blood sugar levels. Many Americans do not get enough of these nutrients in their diets. The highlighted nutrients in this section improve health and may reduce risk of some diseases. For example, consuming adequate calcium helps reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis, a disease in which bones become brittle and break easily. Eat foods that are good sources of one or more of these nutrients. Daily values are based on recommended nutrient intakes when eating 2,000 calories per day. Daily values are also listed for persons eating 2,500 calories per day. Some individuals are allergic to certain ingredients in foods. Food service personnel and consumers may use the ingredient list to check for the presence of such ingredients. Foods and ingredients most likely to cause allergic reactions include peanuts and other nuts, some fish and shellfish, cow's milk, eggs, soy, and wheat. Ingredients are listed in descending order with the main ingredient listed first. Eating too much dietary fat is associated with greater risk of developing certain diseases, such as heart disease and cancer. Fat is also a concentrated source of calories. For these reasons, many people focus on total fat when using the nutrition label. Information about total fat appears in two places. It is first listed as calories from fat. In this example, 60 calories out of 150 calories are from fat. This is a quick way to note that nearly half of the calories in this food comes from fat. To determine exactly what percentage of the calories in this food comes from fat, divide 60 by 150 then multiply by 100. 40% of the calories come from fat. What is the significance of this? Most people enjoy eating some high-fat foods, foods with about 50% or more of their calories from fat. The healthy way to incorporate favorite high-fat foods in the diet is to balance high-fat foods, such as those with 50% or more of their calories from fat, with lower fat foods, for example, fruits and vegetables. Next, total fat is listed in grams and percent daily value. Some people prefer to know the number of grams of fat in a serving of food and monitor their fat intake that way. Others prefer this information expressed as a percent of recommended intake. The percent daily value tells how much total fat this food contributes toward the daily recommended intake for total fat. In this example, 7 grams of total fat equals 11% of the daily value. In other words, 11% of the total amount of fat, 65 grams, recommended for a person who needs 2,000 calories per day. Saturated fat is a component of the amount of total fat listed on the label. Of the 7 grams of total fat in this product, 2.5 grams are saturated fat. On July 9th of 2003, the Food and Drug Administration published a final rule requiring manufacturers to list trans fatty acid, or trans fat, on the Nutrition Facts panel of conventional foods and some dietary supplements. Trans fatty acids are liquid oils that have been chemically changed into solid fats like shortening and hard margarine. The products are then called hydrogenated vegetable oils. A small amount of trans fat is found naturally, primarily in some animal-based foods. In the body, trans fat behaves like saturated fat by raising the low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, or BAD, cholesterol, that increases the risk of coronary heart disease, or CHD. At this time, there is no percent daily value established for trans fat. Saturated in trans fats can be found in some of the same foods, such as vegetable shortening, some margarines, snack foods, salad dressings, and other processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. So to keep consumption of trans fats low while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet, choose foods lower in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. For saturated fat and cholesterol, know that 5% daily value or less is a relatively low amount and 20% daily value or more is high. With information about trans fat on the food label, consumers will be able to choose these foods in moderation. Okay, now that you're familiar with how to read product labels, let's go through a few exercises to test your skills. You can stop the video anytime to think about your answer. Let's look at the nutrition facts label from two cereals and practice using the information. What is the serving size for raisin bran? The correct answer is one cup. If you ate one and one half cups of raisin bran with skim milk, how many calories would you consume? The correct answer is 360. Look at the bottom portion of the labels. What is the daily value for total fat for a 2000 calorie diet? The correct answer is less than 65. One serving of toasted oats cereal with skim milk provides what percentage of the daily value for total fat? The correct answer is 3%. Look at the bottom portion of the labels. What is the daily value for sodium for a 2000 calorie diet? The correct answer is less than 2,400 milligrams. One serving of raisin bran with skim milk provides what percentage of the daily value for sodium? The correct answer is 18%. Compare the amount of dietary fiber per serving in each cereal, which cereal is a better source of fiber? The correct answer is raisin bran. How many grams of dietary fiber per serving does raisin bran have? The correct answer is 8 grams. If you were trying to increase your intake of iron, which cereal, one serving with skim milk, would be a better choice? Toasted oats has more iron. In toasted oats, which ingredient contributes the greatest amount of weight? The correct answer is whole grain oats. Thank you for watching. You have completed understanding the nutrition facts label.