Food Labels and Nutrition Facts

Sometimes it’s hard to make sense of nutrition facts labels, yet they are an important and necessary tool to help us keep track of what we’re eating. Shereen Jegtvig, About’s Guide to Nutrition, helps demystify these ubiquitous food labels.

If you’re following a low fat diet, figuring out some of the other information on food packages is also important. If a product claims to be low fat, what does that actually mean? And if something is said to be fat free, does this really mean there is absolutely no fat in it whatsoever?

Given that some fat is necessary in our diets, distinguishing between good fats and bad fats is key. The nutrition facts label lists the types of fat in a product, but do you know which ones are considered beneficial and which ones are harmful? And how much fat should we eat anyway? Test your knowledge of fats with this quiz.