How do you read a nutrition table?

The nutrition table on a package usually comes with two columns: one for 100 grams or 100 milliliters, the other for the portion the manufacturer has set. A table read without knowing which column you are looking at turns correct numbers into a wrong conclusion.

Below we look at the order in which the table is read, where the difference between the two columns comes from, how two products are compared, and what the table never tells you.

Which line to look at first

You do not have to read the table from top to bottom. Depending on what you are after, a single line is usually enough: fiber and protein for staying full, sugar in sweet products, salt in ready meals.

The energy line sits at the very top, but on its own it may be the one that tells you the least. Two products carrying the same energy can be completely different in how their content is distributed.

So the reading order should not be “energy first” but “the question you are asking first”. Once the question is set, the table is read in seconds.

The difference between the two columns

The hundred-gram column is for comparison; it measures two products on the same ground. The portion column is for estimating how much is actually eaten.

The manufacturer’s portion does not have to be your portion. If a small package is finished in one go, the portion value in the table has to be multiplied by two or three.

The same column is always used when comparing. Looking at the portion column for one product and the hundred-gram column for the other is more misleading than not reading the table at all.

A concrete example through bread

For bread, one standard portion is defined as two thin slices, that is 50 grams. If the value on the label is given for a hundred grams, the amount corresponding to one portion is half of that.

The same calculation shifts when the thickness of the slice changes. In a thickly sliced loaf, two slices go noticeably above fifty grams, and the number in the table grows in the same proportion.

We covered a concrete breakdown, portion included, in the how many calories in a slice of bread article.

How two products are compared

Comparison is done in three steps: choose the same column, look at the same line, convert the difference into portions. When the third step is skipped, a difference that looks large in the table can stay small on the plate.

The reverse happens too. A difference that looks small per hundred grams creates a clear total in a product eaten several portions a day.

How the sugar line is read

Under the carbohydrate line the table also carries a sugar line. That line shows all the sugars present in the product; it does not separate what has been added from what is naturally there.

So the sugar line on a fruit yogurt and on plain milk do not tell you the same thing. The only way to make the distinction is to look at the ingredients list and see whether sugar is written there as a separate ingredient.

The difference becomes clearer still when two tables are put side by side. Within the same product group, the option whose sugar line is clearly lower is usually different in its ingredient list as well.

The salt and sodium mix-up

Some tables say salt, others say sodium, and the two are not the same number. The sodium value is smaller than the salt value; when comparing two products, the same unit has to be used.

Instant soup, tomato paste, pickles and processed meat products are the groups where this line carries the most meaning. Within the same group the difference between brands is sometimes clear.

We covered what cutting salt looks like in the kitchen in the does cutting salt have to leave food tasteless article.

The distinction under the fat line

Saturated fat is given separately under the fat line. That distinction is the most practical line for telling apart two products with the same total fat value.

In biscuits, crackers and ready-made pastry this line is especially informative. Even when the statements on the front are similar, two products can part ways on this line.

What the table never tells you

The nutrition table gives the content of the product in numbers; it does not tell you how filling the product is, which meal it fits, or what should be put next to it.

Once reading the table becomes a habit, the time it takes drops as well. A comparison that takes a minute in the first weeks comes down to a few seconds for familiar products and does not slow the shopping down.

The values in the table are also averages. In natural products the variety, the season and the growing conditions shift the values; that is why small differences between two brands of the same product are normal.

In short: know which column you are looking at, pick the line your question needs, and convert the difference into portions. The shopping and label reading guide covers the rest of the label, and the nutrition values page completes the breakdown food by food.