In order to consume a healthy, nutritious diet, you need to be aware of what the food you eat contains. We cannot rely on the health and nutrient claims on the front of food packages for nutrition information, as these claims are often misleading and confusing. In the United States, food manufacturers are required to provide a food label on all packaged foods, containing information about the ingredients, serving sizes, amounts of nutrients, and recommended daily values.

In this laboratory, you will be examining the nutrition labels for a couple of food items of your choosing and comparing and contrasting these items, based on information from the labels and nutritional recommendations. This lab will help you to decipher information from food labels to help you make informed decisions when selecting foods to incorporate into your diet.

The percent daily value numbers on the manufacturer’s food labels give you a reference for nutrient intake based on a 2000-calorie diet. If you do not eat 2000 calories per day, these values can be misleading and irrelevant. Therefore, you will be determining the percent of calories from fat, protein, and carbohydrates in each of the food items PER SERVING – rather than as a percentage of a 2000 calorie diet. This will assist you in making a more relevant comparison for the two food items.

Procedure:

1. Select a pair of food that is similar, such as two types of cereals, two desserts, two frozen dinners, two fruit juices, etc.
2. Make a hypothesis regarding which food item is healthier.
3. Using the food labels on the food items and nutritional recommendations, complete the questions and Food Labels Table (attached). Make sure you include the table in your lab write-up.

Reflection Questions: (Add your responses at the end of the Food Labels Table)

1. What information do food labels provide? Why is this information important?
2. What was your hypothesis? Why did you base your hypothesis on? Note that it is fine if your hypothesis was not supported by the data.
3. Did your findings support your hypothesis? If not, speculate on what happened.
4. 4. What makes a food healthy?

Make sure you provide references in APA style for each resource you use, including the text and information from the manufacturer.