Understanding health claims on food labels
May 30th, 2009 by Barb
As an addendum to yesterday’s guidelines for reading food labels, here’s an overview of the FDA’s requirements for health claims on food labels:
- Low calorie—Fewer than 40 calories per serving.
- Low cholesterol—Fewer than 20 mg of cholesterol and two grams or fewer of saturated fat per serving.
- Reduced—25 percent less of the specified nutrient or calories than the usual product.
- “Good source of …”—Provides at least 10 percent of the daily value of a particular vitamin or nutrient per serving.
- Calorie free—Fewer than five calories per serving.
- Fat free/sugar free—Fewer than 1/2 gram of fat or sugar per serving.
- Low sodium—Fewer than 140 mg of sodium per serving.
- “High in …”—Provides 20 percent or more of the daily value of a specified nutrient per serving.
- High fiber—Five or more grams of fiber per serving.
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