Objectives

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

• Explain how to read and interpret the data on a Nutrition Facts panel.
• Identify amounts and types of specific nutrients needed by teens expressed as both absolute values and percentages.
• Illustrate ways in which nutrient information found on product packaging can help them as consumers to make more informed food choices.

Introducing the Lesson

Tell students you have a riddle for them. On the chalkboard write, "This industry spends more money on advertising its products to teens than any other industry." Allow groups of students a chance to brainstorm and offer their hunches. After eliciting that the correct answer is the food industry, display examples of Nutrition Facts panels you have clipped from packages and brought to class.

Remind students that since 1994, manufacturers of all food products have been required by law to include these labels on their product packaging. Pass the labels around, and allow students time to absorb the types of information these panels contain.

Teaching Strategies

Tell students they are about to discover how the ability to read and interpret these panels can make them more informed food consumers. Distribute copies of the nutrition panels to students. Ask: What food product do these labels belong to? (Cheese products.) Have students note cursory differences among the numbers and percentages on each. Review or discuss potentially problematic terms used on these labels, including "Percent Daily Value" and the various nutrients represented on Nutrition Facts panels.

After students have completed their inspection of the panels, use the following questions and problems to be done either in class or as a homework assignment.

Follow Up

1. Tell which product has each of the following:

• The greater number of calories per serving.
• The greater number of servings per package.
• More sodium per serving.
• The greater % Daily Value of carbohydrate.

2. You may have noticed that the Storybook Farms product is missing a piece of information: the % Daily Value for Total Fat. How would you go about computing this information for the product?
3. Nutrition authorities recommend that less than one-third of your daily caloric intake should come from fat. Which product most helps the consumer meet that requirement? Explain how you arrived at your answer.
4. Very active teen males, such as athletes, are advised to consume up to 3,000 calories per day. In light of that fact, what percentage of the % Daily Value for Vitamin A would a teen male athlete derive from the Kroft Processed Cheese Food? From the Storybook Farms Processed Cheese Food? Explain how you arrived at your answers.
5. Which product overall is more nutritionally sound? Explain your thinking.

Integrating Math and Health

Obtain the Nutrition Facts panel from a favorite food product. Using information you have learned on how to use the panel itself, rate the product on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of its nutrient density, where 1 is Empty Calories and 5 is Nutrient Dense. Publish your findings along with those of classmates in a booklet titled "How Foods Rate." Add an introduction explaining how each of these foods could be incorporated into a healthful eating plan.

Back to Top