How to Read a Nutrition Label (US and European Formats)

Of all the numbers in a food diary, the ones on a packet label are the most trustworthy, because they are regulated and specific to the product in your hand. Reading them well takes about thirty seconds, once you know where to look.

The US Nutrition Facts label

Read it from the top down.

1. Serving size and servings per container. This is the most important line and the most often skipped. Everything below it refers to one serving. If a bag of crisps says 2.5 servings and you eat the bag, multiply every number by 2.5.

2. Calories. Shown large, per serving.

3. Nutrients. Total fat (with saturated and trans fat), cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate (with dietary fiber, total sugars and added sugars), and protein. Below those, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium.

4. % Daily Value. The share of a recommended daily amount that one serving provides, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. A useful shortcut: 5% or less is low, 20% or more is high. Look for low on sodium, saturated fat and added sugars, and high on fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium.

Some packages carry a second column showing values for the whole package, which saves the arithmetic.

The European label

European labels are laid out differently, and in one way they are easier to use:

• Values are always given per 100 g or 100 ml, and often per portion too.
• Energy is shown in kilojoules (kJ) and kilocalories (kcal). Food trackers use kcal. To convert, divide kJ by 4.184.
• The standard list is energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt. Salt is shown rather than sodium; salt is about 2.5 times the sodium figure.
• Fiber is often listed but not always.

Because values are per 100 g, logging a weighed portion is simple: 45 g of cereal is 0.45 times the per-100 g figures.

US and European labels compared

	United States	Europe
Basis	Per serving (and sometimes per package)	Per 100 g or 100 ml (and often per portion)
Energy	Calories	kJ and kcal
Salt	Sodium in mg	Salt in g
Daily reference	% Daily Value on a 2,000-calorie diet	Reference intakes on some labels
Added sugars	Listed separately	Not usually listed separately

Logging from a label

• Scan the barcode first. Most trackers will pull the label data directly.
• Check that the entry matches your packet, especially if the product has been reformulated.
• Match the serving. If the label’s serving is 30 g and you ate 50 g, log 50 g, not “one serving”.
• Ignore front-of-pack claims for logging purposes; the back panel is what counts.

Ingredients list

The ingredients list is ordered by weight, largest first. It does not change your calorie log, but it tells you what the product is made of, which is useful when two products have similar numbers.

The bottom line

Serving size first, calories second, then the nutrients you care about. On European labels, use the per 100 g column and your portion weight. A label is the best data you will log all day, so take the thirty seconds to read it.