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Amount of Food
Learn to make healthier food choices by using the Nutrition Facts table on prepackaged foods. The amount of food is found in the Nutrition Facts table.
Use this interactive tool to learn more about the amount of food:
What is the amount of food?
All of the information in the Nutrition Facts table is based on an amount of food. The amount of food is listed at the top of the Nutrition Facts table.
The amount of food is often called the serving size.
Did you know?
The amount of food must be in grams (g) or millilitres (mL). When listed in grams, it must also include a familiar household unit, such as:
- A phrase: one slice; one egg; two cookies
- A simple measure: ½ cup; 1 tablespoon
- A fraction of the food: ¼ of pizza, ½ Naan bread, 1/6 quiche
Whole Wheat Bread
Why use the amount of food?
- To know the amount of food that the calories and nutrients in the Nutrition Facts table is based on.
- To compare this amount to the amount of food you actually eat. If you are eating more or less than the amount of food, you will need to adjust the values of the calories and each nutrient found in the Nutrition Facts table.
For example:- It's breakfast time. You choose to have cereal this morning but you are watching your intake of sodium.
- The amount of food in the Nutrition Facts table is ½ cup.
- The % DV for sodium for this amount of cereal is 7%.
- You decide to eat 1 cup of cereal.
- You must multiply the % DV for sodium by 2 to see if this is a little or a lot of sodium.
- The % DV of sodium for 1 cup of cereal is 14%.
- Remember 5% DV or less is a little and 15% DV or more is a lot for any nutrient.
- The amount of food can also be used to compare food products and make a healthier choice. You should always compare the amount of food by weight or volume (usually given in g or mL). This way, you are certain that you are comparing similar amounts of food.
For example:
Cracker A
Cracker B
- The amount of food for Product A is 9 crackers and weighs 23 g.
- The amount of food for Product B is 4 crackers and weighs 20 g.
- In this example, 23 g and 20 g are very similar weights. This means you can compare the Nutrition Facts tables for these products.
Did you know?
You may also be able to compare food products that don't have a similar amount of food. Read more +/-
For example, when deciding what to eat for breakfast, you could compare bagels to sliced bread.
- The amount of food for a bagel is 90 g
- The amount of food for 2 slices bread is 70 g
You can compare these food products because you would most likely eat either the bagel or the 2 slices of bread at breakfast.
Helpful hints at the grocery store:
Quick Fact:
The amount of food is not the suggested amount of food you should eat. It is a reference amount.
- Always look at the Nutrition Facts table to choose and compare foods.
- Always look at the amount of food in the Nutrition Facts table to make sure you compare similar amounts of food.
