Do you ever wonder what really is in your food? What and why ingredients have been added to foods--from chemicals to sugar, salt, and fat?

You will find detailed nutrition information wrapped around almost every packaged food in the U.S. Today's food labels display up to four different types of health and nutrition information designed to help you decide which foods fit best into your overall eating style and nutrition goals.

Nutrition Descriptions

Terms like "lean," "low fat," "light," "reduced calorie," or "high calcium," are printed on food labels to advertise characteristics of the food believed to be attractive to some consumers. The use of these terms is strictly regulated so they have to be truthful. Usually found on the front of food labels, they allow quick comparisons of products.

The percentage Daily Value (DV) shown on the labels gives a general idea of a food's nutrient contribution to the total daily diet. For example, the DV for fat, based on a 2,000-calorie diet, is 65 grams. A food that has 13 grams of fat per serving would state on the label that the "percent Daily Value" for fat is 20 percent. Here are some other terms:

• Free--none of that ingredient is in the product.
• Low--does not exceed the daily value for the nutrient. "Low" can only be applied to total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and calories, and "very low" can only be applied to sodium.
• Reduced--contains at least 25 percent fewer calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, or sodium than a comparable food.
• High--20 percent or more of the daily for a nutrient, such as "high in vitamin C" or "high calcium."
• Good source--10-19 percent of the daily for a nutrient such as "good source of Fiber." Other terms: contains, provides.
• More--10 percent or more of the daily requirement, such as "more fiber" or "more iron." You will not find these terms on meat or poultry products. Other terms: enriched, fortified, added.
• Light--one-third fewer calories or 50 percent less fat than the traditional version. A "low-calorie" or "low-fat" food with 50 percent less sodium also might be called "light." Other terms: lite.
• Healthy--low in fat and saturated fat and contains 480 milligrams or less sodium per serving, and at least 10 percent of the daily value of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, protein, and fiber.

On packaged seafood or game, cooked meat, or cooked poultry, look for:

• Lean--less than 10 grams total fat, 4.5 grams or less saturated fat, and 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 3-oz. serving.
• Extra lean--less than 5 grams total fat, 2 grams saturated fat, and 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 3-oz. serving.

Health Claims

Statements that expand upon the nutrition terms to explain the benefits of eating the food in questions suggest health benefits from the food. For example, "This is a high calcium food, and calcium has been shown to lower the risk of osteoporosis." The claims also frequently appear on the front of food packages; and, like the nutrition descriptions, they are truthful because they are regulated.

Nutrition Facts

Usually located on the side or back of a food package, the nutrition facts panel offers much more detailed nutrition information than the nutrition descriptions or health claims. The panel shows not only the specific amount of each nutrient in the serving but how that amount compares to the recommended daily value of that nutrient. The nutrition facts panel provides:

• The actual nutrient and calorie content of one serving of the food.
• The estimated size of a single serving.
• The calories in that serving.
• The amount of key nutrients in that serving related to today's most important health concerns (e.g., heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis) and include: fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, fiber, Vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron.

Ingredients

Like a recipe, the ingredient list defines what is in the package. If a food contains more than one ingredient, the label must list all ingredients in descending order by percentage of the total weight of the contents they comprise. This means that the ingredient in the largest amount must be listed first and the food ingredient present in the least amount must be listed last. Take chicken soup as an example: If the first ingredient listed is water, then the soup contains more water by weight, than anything else. The ingredient list is especially useful for persons with allergies to specific ingredients or with other special dietary restrictions for health or religious reasons.

When sleuthing the label, be sure to investigate the product's weight. Sometimes food packaging can be deceptive. When you want to compare size, as well as value for money, look at the weight of the product, not the size of the box. And always take into account the "serving size." If a box of macaroni and cheese is supposed to make five servings, but you eat half of the box in one sitting, that is two and a half servings. The nutrition facts on calories, fat, and sodium only apply to one serving, so get out your calculator and multiply!

Whether it is cutting calories, boosting fiber, lowering dietary fat, or making a myriad of other more nutritious personal food choices, food labels can help. So remember to be a label detective-read the food label and eat healthier.

RESOURCES

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville MD 20857-0001; 888-463-6332; www.fda.gov

INTERNET RESOURCES

Kid's Health, kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/labels.html

U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a sample food label with descriptions (also available in Spanish), www.nal.usda.gov/childcare

Nutritiondata, this site includes hundreds of fast foods and other foods and creates food labels for them: www.nutritiondata.com