Nutrition Label - Percentage of Calories

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Created on 01, August, 2007

A health/nutrition blog states that nutrition labels must list the percentage of a food’s calories coming from fat, sugar, protein and carbohydrates. 

The percentages given on a nutrition label have nothing to do with calories. Rather, they represent the percentage of the Daily Value for that nutrient that is supplied by one serving of the food in a 2,000 calorie diet (considered average for an active adult). For instance, the Daily Value for fat intake (basically a recommended maximum) in a 2,000 calorie diet is 65 grams. Thus, a food with 6 grams of fat has 9% of the DV for fat. Percentage of calories from fat in this example (where total calories are 150) would be 36%, but this is not required on the nutrition label.