Nutrition News & Views

October 23, 1999
Nutritious Reading-October, 1999/No.1

According to the 1993 food labeling regulation, there are eleven words describing the amount of nutrients in a food product. These claims are free, low, lean, extra lean, high, good source, reduced, less, light, fewer and more. The following information contains definitions of specific nutrient claims.

Foods labeled "free" contain no amount of the specified nutrient. "Calorie-free," "sugar-free" and "fat-free" means fewer than .5 grams per serving. "Cholesterol-free" means a product has less than 2 milligrams of cholesterol and 2 grams or less of saturated fat per serving.

"Low" describes a food that when eaten frequently does not exceed the dietary guidelines. "Low-fat" means 3 grams or less per serving. "Low-saturated fat" means 1 gram or less per serving. "Low-sodium" means 14 milligrams or less per serving. "Low-cholesterol" means 20 milligrams or less of cholesterol and no more than 2 grams of saturated fat per serving. "Low-calorie" means 40 calories or less per serving. Words like "little," "few," and "low source" also have the same definition as low.

"Lean" and "extra lean" describe meat, poultry and fish products. Lean means the product contains 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 100-gram serving. Extra lean describes a product with less than 5 grams of fat, less than 2 grams of saturated fat and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 100-gram serving.

"High" describes a food with 20 percent or more than the Daily Value for that nutrient. An example would be calling a product "high fiber" because it contains 5 grams or more fiber per serving. "Daily Value" is a standard value that allows a person to know how a specific nutrient contributes to their overall diet.

"Good source" describes a food that has 10 percent to 19 percent of the Daily Value for the nutrient. A product containing 2.5 grams to 4.9 grams of fiber is an example of a "good source of fiber."

"Reduced" describes a nutritionally altered food. A reduced product has been altered to contain 25 percent less of a specific nutrient or of calories than the original product. A product cannot be labeled as reduced if it already meets the requirements for low.

"Less" describes a nutritionally altered or unaltered food. Less means the product contains 25 percent less of a nutrient than the other product referred to by the claim. "Fewer" can also be used in place of less. An example is pretzels claiming to have less fat than potato chips.

"Light" means that a nutritionally altered food contains one-third fewer calories than the original food. It also means that a low-calorie low-fat food has had its sodium reduced by 50 percent.

"More" can describe a nutritionally altered or unaltered product. More explains that a product contains 10 percent more of the Daily Value for a nutrient than the other product referred to by the claim.

These definitions should give the consumer an idea of what the various nutrient content claims are. For education purposes, there is a handout version of this information located on the FDA WebPages .

Submitted by Ginny Bogle, MSU Dietetic Intern
Distributed by Barbara Mclaurin, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., Human Nutrition Specialist, MSU Extension Service, October 1999

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