Also called: Nutrition labeling
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Food Labeling
All packaged foods and beverages in the United States have food labels. These "Nutrition Facts" labels can help you make smarter food choices and eat a healthy diet.
Before you read the food label, you should know a few things:
- Serving size is based on how much people usually eat and drink at one time
- Number of servings tells you how many servings are in the container. Some labels will give you information about calories and nutrients for both the whole package and each serving size. But many labels just tell you that information for each serving size. You need to think about the serving size when you decide how much to eat or drink. For example, if a bottle of juice has two servings and you drink the whole bottle, then you are getting twice the amount of sugar that is listed on the label.
- Percent daily value (%DV) is a number that helps you understand how much of a nutrient is in one serving. Experts recommend that you get a certain amount of different nutrients daily. %DV tells you what percentage of the daily recommendation you get from one serving of a food. With this, you can figure out if a food is high or low in a nutrient: 5% or less is low, 20% or more is high.
The information on a food label can help you see how a certain food or drink fits into your overall diet. The label lists, per serving,:
- The number of calories
- Fats, including total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat
- Cholesterol
- Sodium
- Carbohydrates, including fiber, total sugar, and added sugar
- Protein
- Vitamins and minerals
Food and Drug Administration
It sits within Food and Nutrition.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Food Labeling
914 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- A Phase I, Cross-over Study Comparing the Relative Bioavailability of Laroprovstat Plus Ezetimibe Fixed Combination Drug Products Versus Their Single Therapy Products in Healthy AdultsAstraZeneca
- A Study to Learn About How Food Affects the Uptake of Study Medicine Prifetrastat Into the Blood in Healthy AdultsPfizer
- Single and Multiple Dose Study to Evaluate Safety and Pharmacokinetics of BMS-986533 in Healthy Participants and Assessments of Food and pH Effects on Relative Bioavailability, and Drug-Drug Interaction Potential in Healthy ParticipantsBristol-Myers Squibb
- A Study to Learn About How a New Nurandociguat Tablet is Absorbed and Processed in the Body Compared to an Old Tablet and How Food Affects the Way the New Tablet is Absorbed and Processed in the BodyBayer
- A Study to Investigate the Relative Bioavailability of 2 Tablet Formulations and the Effect of Food on the Pharmacokinetics of BGB-58067 in Healthy ParticipantsBeOne Medicines
- A Study of Food Effect on Tersolisib (LY4064809) in Healthy ParticipantsEli Lilly and Company
Research already completed
- A Study of How Ibuzatrelvir is Taken up Into the Blood of Healthy Adults After Taking Different Tablets of IbuzatrelvirPfizer
- Effect of Hifas Intima Oral on Vaginal Microbiota in Healthy WomenHifas da Terra S.L.
- A Study to Evaluate the Effect of Food on the Pharmacokinetic Characteristics and Safety Profile of AD-117 in Healthy Adult VolunteersAddpharma Inc.
- Menu to Meal (M2M) Menu Labeling Intervention StudyTexas A&M University
- Relative Bioavailability and Impact of Rabeprazole for PF-07799933, Food-Effect for PF-07799933 and PF-07799544Pfizer
- A Study in Healthy Men to Test if Different Formulations of BI 764198 With or Without Food Influence the Amount of BI 764198 in the BloodBoehringer Ingelheim
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Figuring Out Food LabelsNemours Foundation
Related Issues
- Additives In Meat and Poultry ProductsDepartment of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service
- Milk and Plant-Based Milk Alternatives: Know the Nutrient DifferenceFood and Drug Administration
- Nutrition Facts for Raw VegetablesFood and Drug Administration
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Food LabelingNational Institutes of Health
Patient Handouts
- Nutrition Facts for Cooked SeafoodFood and Drug Administration
- Nutrition Facts for Raw FruitsFood and Drug Administration
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Food Labeling. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Food Labeling, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.