Many foods come with a nutrition label that tells you if it’s healthy to eat. This label can tell you important information like the ideal serving size or how much sugar and fat you are consuming.
Be honest! If you had a tasty bag of potato chips in front of you, have you ever taken the time to check out the nutrition label? Many kids just ignore the information and eat as much as they want. This can lead to weight gain and health problems.
Use this activity to learn how to read a nutrition label. Then use the practice label below to test out your skills!
Step #1: Go to the Food and Drug Administration webpage and learn the basic skills for how to read a nutrition label.
Step #2: Imagine that you are at a sandwich shop and decide to order a bag of chips with your meal. The restaurant owner motions to a shelf full of several kinds of potato chips.
Which type of chip are you going to choose? Use the label below to learn about the nutritional content of regular potato chips and baked chips. Then, answer the questions.
- Take a look at the Serving Size information for the bags of chips. What important piece of information do you notice for the Baked Potato Chips?
- If you ate the WHOLE bag of Baked Potato Chips, how many calories would you consume?
- Are the calories in one serving of Regular Potato Chips considered low, moderate, or high? Why?
- The Regular Potato Chips contain a high amount of saturated fat. What health risks are associated with this high fat intake?
- Fill out the vitamin chart for each type of chip. Circle which type has the most of that particular vitamin. Iron has been done for you as an example.
- Are potato chips a good source of vitamins and minerals? Why or why not?
- The percent daily value (%DV) has been blacked out for the Regular Potato Chips. Using information from the website, find the percentage of your daily saturated fat intake represented by the 3 grams of saturated fat in this bag.
- Why is it important to pay particular attention to the calcium amount on your food label?
- If you are concerned about your saturated fat content, which bag of chips is the better choice? Why?
- What are some healthier food options that you could purchase instead of potato chips?
