Start with the serving size
Everything on the label is per serving, not per package. Before anything else, check the serving size at the top and the servings per container just below it. If a package holds 2 servings and you eat all of it, you double every number underneath — calories, sugar, sodium, the lot.
Serving sizes are not the manufacturer's choice. They are standardized by the FDA as Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed (RACC), based on how much people typically eat in one sitting. We cover how that works in the serving sizes guide.
The 2016 label redesign refreshed many serving sizes to match what people actually eat today, and made the serving size and calorie figures larger and bolder so they are easier to find.
Calories
Calories are printed in large type because they matter most for weight management, and the figure is for one serving. The old 'Calories from Fat' line was removed in the 2016 redesign — the FDA noted that the *type* of fat matters more than the total amount.
Curious how many calories you need in a day? Estimate it with the TDEE calculator.
The % Daily Value (%DV)
The % Daily Value tells you how much one serving contributes to a full day's recommended intake of a nutrient, on a 2,000-calorie reference diet. It is the fastest way to judge whether a food is high or low in something.
A simple rule the FDA uses: 5% DV or less is low, and 20% DV or more is high.
- Nutrients to get more of — dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium: aim for higher %DV.
- Nutrients to get less of — saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars: aim for lower %DV.
%DV also makes label-to-label comparison easy. As long as the serving sizes match, you can compare two products line by line — or do it instantly with the food comparison tool.
Added sugars vs. total sugars
Total sugars includes sugars that occur naturally (such as the sugar in milk and fruit) plus any added during processing. Added sugars — a line introduced in the 2016 redesign — counts only sugars added by the manufacturer: table sugar, syrups, honey, and concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. Added sugars carries a %DV; total sugars does not.
The Daily Value for added sugars is 50 g on a 2,000-calorie diet, so a product with 25 g of added sugars in a serving is already at 50% of the day's reference. For the single-ingredient rules (honey, maple syrup) and the full story, see the added sugars deep-dive.
Nutrients with no % Daily Value
A few items show a gram amount but no %DV, because the FDA has not set a Daily Value for them:
- Trans fat — experts could not establish a reference value, so no %DV is shown. The guidance is simply to keep it as low as possible — more in the trans fat guide.
- Total sugars — no DV of its own; the added-sugars line carries the %DV instead.
- Protein — a %DV is only required in specific cases, such as foods for infants and children under 4, or when a protein claim is made.
Vitamins and minerals
Since 2016 the label must list the amount and %DV of vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium. Calcium and iron were always required; vitamin D and potassium are the newer additions, chosen because many people fall short of them. Vitamins A and C are no longer mandatory but can still be listed voluntarily.
A quick reading order
- Check the serving size and servings per container.
- Note the calories per serving — and multiply if you will eat more.
- Scan %DV: aim low on saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars; aim high on fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium.
- Compare similar products at the same serving size.
To see all of this on real foods, browse the food nutrition database — every entry shows per-serving values and %DV straight from USDA data.
Daily Values reference (2,000-calorie diet)
Here are the FDA Daily Values that %DV is calculated against. These are the same reference values NutriFactsHub uses across its food data. For the full reference page — including what changed in 2016 — see the FDA Daily Values reference.
| Nutrient | Daily Value |
|---|---|
| Total Fat | 78 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 300 mg |
| Sodium | 2300 mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 275 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 28 g |
| Added Sugars | 50 g |
| Protein | 50 g |
| Vitamin D | 20 mcg |
| Calcium | 1300 mg |
| Iron | 18 mg |
| Potassium | 4700 mg |
| Vitamin C | 90 mg |
| Vitamin A (RAE) | 900 mcg |
| Vitamin E | 15 mg |
| Vitamin K | 120 mcg |
| Thiamin (B1) | 1.2 mg |
| Riboflavin (B2) | 1.3 mg |
| Niacin (B3) | 16 mg |
| Vitamin B6 | 1.7 mg |
| Folate (DFE) | 400 mcg |
| Vitamin B12 | 2.4 mcg |
| Magnesium | 420 mg |
| Phosphorus | 1250 mg |
| Zinc | 11 mg |
| Copper | 0.9 mg |
| Manganese | 2.3 mg |
| Selenium | 55 mcg |
Your own needs may be higher or lower depending on age, sex, activity, and health, so treat %DV as a general reference rather than a personal target. Estimate your own calorie needs with the TDEE calculator, or set macro targets with the macro calculator.