How to read Nutritional Labelling

First thing first, there several type of Food labeling in the world. But most of the country around the globe adopt the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Some of the example that didn't adopt the FDA food label was Malaysia (My country). We had our own food label system. 

This was a Food Label for an Oatmeal in packs for drinking  

The Serving Size shows that if you eat this much, you will get this amount of nutrient. In this case, if you drink a 1/2 cup of oatmeal, you will receive the nutrient listed below. 

So, for this small amount of oatmeal, you will get 150 kJ of Calories, and 25 kJ of it came from fat.
For healthy reason, try to find food that calories from fat are 1/3 less than the overall calories. 

The % daily value shows the amount of the nutrient you need daily. 

For example, look at the Total Fat, which is 4%.
In this case, the Total Fat consume with this small portion of oatmeal is equivalent to 4% of fat needed daily by your body.

As for those 0% nutrient, this doesn't mean that there's none of the nutrient (if it does, why bother put it?) The nutrient is actually there but it is in small amount. REALY SMALL AMOUNT.

One more thing, the % daily value was based on people with total energy expenditure (TEF) around 2000 calories daily. It's based on Adult Women energy requirement, who's not physically active. As for guys, our body requires around 2500 calories daily MINIMUM. so, it's ok to eat more.



There's actually more than this, but this is the most basic knowledge on understanding Food Label.
I hope this helps