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Recent federal regulations require that all labels on packaged foods provide information on the number of calories and amount of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugar, and protein that food contains. The information is related to a normal daily diet that contains 2,000 calories, 65 grams of fat (30 percent of calories), 20 grams of saturated fat, 300 milligrams of cholesterol, 2,400 milligrams of sodium, 300 grams of total carbohydrates, and 25 grams of fiber. The percentage of the daily values that one serving of the food provides is given, along with a percentage of the daily value for vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. 

Use the information on food labels to limit the amount of your fat consumption. Here's how to find the percentage of calories from fat in one serving of a food:

1. Multiply the number of grams of fat in a serving, as shown on the label, by 9 (there are 9 calories in each gram of fat) to find the number of calories from fat.
2. Divide the number of calories from fat by the total number of calories, on the label, shown for one serving.
3. Multiply this amount by 100 to get the percentage of calories from fat.

If you look at any package label, you will see that one serving of pretzels has 1.5 grams of total fat and 180 calories. (1) The total number of calories from fat is 1.59, or about 14 calories from fat. (Total calories from fat is often shown on food labels.) (2) Divide 14 by 180 (the number of calories in one serving), which comes to 0.077. (3) Finally, multiply by 100. About 8 percent of the calories in these pretzels come from fat. 

Be alert to serving sizes, which are also listed on the label. If the label specifies two cookies as one serving, and you eat four cookies, you'll need to multiply all of the nutritional information by two to get the nutrient content of the food you consumed. 

Fresh meat, fish, poultry, and produce are not required to carry labels with this information. Sometimes this information is available at the produce or meat counter of grocery stores.