What should you look for in nutrition facts label?

Three panels that are not the same panel, because the phrase nutrition facts names the American one

Nutrition Facts is a phrase with a nationality: it is the title of the United States food and supplement panel, the black-bordered table American readers know, and a UK buyer searching for it is usually holding a UK label that looks different for reasons worth knowing before anything is read off it. The US panel, on foods: serving-based, listing calories and nutrients per serving with a Percent Daily Value column, %DV, against American reference intakes, and on supplements titled Supplement Facts, listing each ingredient per serving with %DV and, for vitamins A, D and E, sometimes international units, IU, alongside or instead of micrograms and milligrams. The UK food declaration: not a Nutrition Facts panel but a nutrition declaration, mandated by the retained food information regulation, in a fixed order that never changes, energy in kilojoules and kilocalories, fat, of which saturates, carbohydrate, of which sugars, protein and salt, per 100g or 100ml as the mandatory basis so that products compare like with like, with per-portion figures optional and additional, and with vitamins and minerals shown as a percentage of the nutrient reference value, %NRV, where declared. The UK supplement table: different again, because a supplement's label declares its characterising nutrients per recommended daily dose, the portion the label directs, with %NRV where a reference value exists, the amount of each vitamin or mineral stated in micrograms or milligrams and never in IU, and, for minerals delivered as compounds, the elemental amount being the figure that matters, 300mg of elemental magnesium from 1500mg of bisglycinate on the worked example, the compound weight being the ingredient and the elemental weight being the nutrient. Three panels, and the UK buyer reads the third.

The five things a lifter reads first on any panel, the two conversions that trip readers, and the label read

Whichever panel is in hand, five things get read first. The serving size, because per capsule and per serving are different numbers and brands know which looks better on the front, the daily dose being two capsules on the worked example and every figure below it referring to that pair. The per-serving amount of the active, the number the whole label exists to state, read from the table rather than the front. The elemental figure for minerals, the trap the magnesium section drills, a label stating magnesium glycinate 1500mg being a statement of compound weight, the elemental magnesium being about a fifth of that, and an honest label stating both or stating the elemental figure with of which magnesium, the equivalent trap for mushroom extracts being the ratio maths the lion's mane section teaches. The %NRV, which turns an amount into a proportion of the reference intake, 80% on the worked example, and which is the UK's equivalent of the American %DV against a different reference table, so that the two percentages are not interchangeable across labels. And the unit, micrograms and milligrams in the UK, with the two conversions that trip readers between panels: IU to micrograms for vitamin D, 40 IU being one microgram so that 400 IU is 10 micrograms, the UK guidance amount, and a US %DV to a UK %NRV being no conversion at all, the two reference tables differing nutrient by nutrient. The variants this query carries are answered in passing: a UK nutrition label format is the fixed-order declaration per 100g for foods and the per-daily-dose table with %NRV for supplements, and a Nutrition Facts label PDF, the American template, is the wrong document for a UK product. The label read: serving size first, per-serving amount second, elemental figure third, %NRV fourth, unit fifth, and the worked example read that way gives two capsules, 1500mg bisglycinate, 300mg elemental, 80% NRV, milligrams throughout, a supplement table with nothing to convert and nothing to guess.

The verdict, read off the right panel

What to look for in a nutrition facts label: first, which panel it is, Nutrition Facts being the American food and supplement table with %DV and sometimes IU, the UK food label carrying a fixed-order nutrition declaration per 100g, and a UK supplement carrying a per-daily-dose table with %NRV in micrograms and milligrams, then the five reads on any of them, the serving size, the per-serving amount, the elemental figure for minerals, the %NRV or %DV against its own reference table, and the unit, with 40 IU of vitamin D converting to one microgram and %DV converting to %NRV not at all. The table that reads cleanly: Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate, two capsules, 1500mg bisglycinate, 300mg elemental, 80% NRV, milligrams throughout, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p a day, a UK supplement panel with nothing left to convert.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

Is a Nutrition Facts label the same as a UK nutrition label?

No: Nutrition Facts is the US panel with %DV, while UK foods carry a nutrition declaration in a fixed order per 100g and UK supplements a per-daily-dose table with %NRV in micrograms and milligrams.

What is the UK nutrition label format?

For foods, energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt in that fixed order per 100g, with per-portion figures optional; for supplements, each nutrient per recommended daily dose with %NRV where a reference value exists.

What is the difference between %DV and %NRV?

Two reference tables: %DV compares an amount with US daily values and %NRV with UK nutrient reference values, which differ nutrient by nutrient, so the two percentages do not convert into each other.

How do I convert IU to micrograms on a vitamin D label?

Divide by 40: 400 IU is 10 micrograms, the UK autumn-and-winter guidance amount, UK labels using micrograms only and IU appearing on American and grey-import panels.

What does elemental mean on a mineral label?

The weight of the mineral itself rather than the compound carrying it: 1500mg of magnesium bisglycinate delivers about 300mg of elemental magnesium, and the elemental figure is the one the %NRV and the dose refer to.

Sources

1. The retained Food Information to Consumers regulation: the mandatory nutrition declaration for foods, its fixed order of energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt per 100g, and its rules on portion information, with supplements declaring nutrients per daily dose against nutrient reference values. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/contents
2. The Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1387/contents/made
3. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products. Scientific opinion on Dietary Reference Values for fats: Adequate Intake of 250mg combined EPA and DHA per day for adults. EFSA Journal 2010;8(3):1461. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/1461
4. The GB claims register, magnesium entries: magnesium contributes to a reduction of tiredness and fatigue, normal psychological function, normal nervous system function, normal muscle function and electrolyte balance, among others. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/great-britain-nutrition-and-health-claims-nhc-register

Related answers

• What should you look for in nutrition facts label example?
• What should you look for in nutrition facts label generator?
• What are the main 3 things you should know about the Nutrition Facts label?
• What can a nutrition label tell you?
• What should you look for in food supplement regulations UK?
• What should you look for in informed sport UK?