Nutrition Basics

Reading Food Labels

Saturated fat. Carbohydrates. Calories. These days, everyone reads food labels. But what can they do for you and your baby during your pregnancy and beyond?

By reading the nutrition information on food labels, you will be able to:

Make informed food choices
Compare products more easily
Determine the nutritional value of foods
Increase or decrease your intake of certain nutrients
Better manage special diets
Follow Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide more easily

Here are some examples of what you may see on food labels. For more complete information visit the website links located below.

Nutrition Claims

Nutrient content claims tell you about 1 nutrient such as sodium, fat, sugar or fibre. For example: no sugar added, fat free, excellent source of fibre

Health claims tell you how your diet can affect your health. For example: A healthy diet low in saturated and trans fats may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Ingredient List

The ingredient list tells you what ingredients are in a packaged food. Ingredients are listed by weight from most to least.

The Nutrition Facts Table

Provides you with information on the Calories and 13 nutrients for the serving size shown. Compare the serving size on the package to the amount that you eat.

Percent Daily Value

% Daily Value puts nutrients on a scale from 0% to 100%. This scale tells you if there is a little or a lot of a nutrient in 1 serving of packaged food.

Choose packaged foods with a low % Daily Value of: