The added sugars percentage on every label is calibrated to guidance the Dietary Guidelines abandoned in January 2026. Here is how to read the panel now, including the rounding rule that hides trans fat.
As of January 2026 the Nutrition Facts label and the federal dietary advice it was built to support no longer agree about sugar. Start there, because it changes how you read the panel.
The FDA sets the Daily Value for added sugars at 50 grams, based on a 2,000 calorie diet, and the percentage on every label is calculated against that. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025 to 2030, released in January 2026 by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, abandoned the percentage-of-calories framing entirely. Its wording: while no amount of added sugars or non-nutritive sweeteners is recommended or considered part of a healthy or nutritious diet, one meal should contain no more than 10 grams of added sugars. For children, no amount of added sugars is recommended.
Work the arithmetic on an ordinary product. A yoghurt with 12 grams of added sugars per serving shows 24 percent of the Daily Value, which reads as roughly a quarter of your day’s allowance and sounds moderate. Against the current Dietary Guidelines, that single serving has already exceeded the 10 gram per-meal figure. The label is not wrong. It is calibrated to guidance that has moved.
The practical consequence: read the gram figure for added sugars, not the percentage. Every other nutrient on the panel is still best read as a percentage. This one is not.
The serving size is not a recommendation
This is the most consequential misunderstanding on the panel, and the FDA states the correction plainly: serving sizes are based on the amount of food that is typically eaten at one time, and are not a recommendation of how much to eat or drink.
The legal basis is the Reference Amount Customarily Consumed, and the 2016 revision updated those amounts to reflect survey data from 2003 to 2008 rather than the 1977 to 1988 data behind the original 1993 figures. Ice cream moved from half a cup to two thirds. Soda moved from 8 fluid ounces to 12. Large muffins became one serving rather than two or three.
Two rules make the panel harder to game than it used to be. Packages containing less than 200 percent of the reference amount must be labelled as a single serving, because people are likely to eat the whole thing in one sitting. Packages between 200 and 300 percent of the reference amount must carry dual-column labelling showing both per serving and per package, which is why a 19-ounce can of soup now has two columns.
Outside those bands, the multiplication is still yours to do. Servings per container sits at the top of the panel for a reason.
The rule that makes the panel fast to read
The FDA publishes a shortcut: 5 percent Daily Value or less of a nutrient per serving is considered low, and 20 percent Daily Value or more is considered high.
Which nutrients you want on which side of that line is also FDA guidance. Get less of added sugars, sodium and saturated fat, aiming to stay under 100 percent of the Daily Value for each across the day. Get more of dietary fibre, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium, aiming for 100 percent on most days.
That is genuinely most of what a shopper needs. Find the three to avoid, check whether they are near 5 or near 20, and move on.
The Daily Values themselves
For adults and children aged four and over, on a 2,000 calorie basis:
| Nutrient | Daily Value |
|---|---|
| Total fat | 78 g |
| Saturated fat | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 300 mg |
| Sodium | 2,300 mg |
| Total carbohydrate | 275 g |
| Dietary fibre | 28 g |
| Added sugars | 50 g |
| Protein | 50 g |
| Vitamin D | 20 mcg |
| Calcium | 1,300 mg |
| Iron | 18 mg |
| Potassium | 4,700 mg |
Vitamin D and potassium became mandatory in the 2016 revision, replacing vitamins A and C, which are now voluntary. Compliance dates were 1 January 2020 for manufacturers with 10 million dollars or more in annual food sales and 1 January 2021 for smaller ones, so every label you encounter now uses this format.
Where the percentage column goes blank, and why
Three lines on the panel carry no percent Daily Value, and each blank means something different.
Trans fat has none because, in the FDA’s words, experts could not provide a reference value for it. There is no safe threshold to divide by.
Total sugars has none because it mixes the sugar naturally present in milk and fruit with the sugar added during processing. Only the added sugars line carries a Daily Value.
Protein usually has none, because the FDA does not require it unless a protein claim is made.
The consequence is that the percentage column cannot be used to compare trans fat or total sugars between two products at all. For those, the gram figures are the only comparison available.
The rounding rules, worked through
This is where a label can be accurate and misleading at the same time.
Under 21 CFR 101.9, if a serving contains less than 0.5 gram of trans fat, the content, when declared, must be expressed as zero. So:
| Actual trans fat per serving | What the label must say | If you eat three servings |
|---|---|---|
| 0.4 g | 0 g | Up to 1.2 g, label still says 0 g |
| 0.45 g | 0 g | Up to 1.35 g, label still says 0 g |
| 0.5 g | 0.5 g | 1.5 g, and the label shows it |
The tell is the ingredient list. If it contains partially hydrogenated oil, there is trans fat in the product regardless of what the panel says. This is a shrinking problem: the FDA made its final determination removing partially hydrogenated oils from the generally recognised as safe category in June 2015, with compliance dates running through to 1 January 2021. But older and imported stock can persist, and the rounding rule itself has not changed.
The same logic applies elsewhere. Sodium is expressed as zero below 5 milligrams per serving, rounded to the nearest 5 milligrams between 5 and 140, and to the nearest 10 above that. Added sugars round to the nearest gram, and may be expressed as zero below 0.5 gram.
What “healthy” is about to mean
The FDA finalised a new definition of the word healthy on food packaging, published in the Federal Register in December 2024, effective February 2025, with a compliance date of 25 February 2028.
The change is structural. The old 1994 definition worked on individual nutrients. The new one requires a meaningful amount of at least one food group, plus limits on added sugars, sodium and saturated fat. Per reference amount, sodium is capped at 10 percent of the Daily Value, or 230 milligrams; saturated fat at 5 to 10 percent, or 1 to 2 grams; added sugars at 2 to 10 percent, or 1 to 5 grams, varying by category.
The instructive part is what flips. Salmon, avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil and water newly qualify. Heavily sweetened yoghurt and fortified white bread, both of which qualified under the old definition, no longer do. If you have ever wondered how a sweetened cereal could carry a health-positive framing, that is the answer, and it has a deadline on it now.
What is coming to the front of the package
In January 2025 the FDA proposed a front-of-package Nutrition Info box giving at-a-glance interpretation of saturated fat, sodium and added sugar content as Low, Medium or High. It would complement rather than replace the Nutrition Facts panel, and calories would not appear in the box.
As of September 2026 that rule is proposed and not finalised. The comment period closed in July 2025 and the agency is still working through it. The proposed timeline would give larger businesses three years from the final rule’s effective date and smaller ones four. So this is a change to expect, not one to shop by.
What to do, in order
- Check servings per container first, before reading any number below it. Everything on the panel is per serving, and the serving is not a recommendation.
- Use the 5 and 20 rule on added sugars, sodium and saturated fat. Under 5 percent is low, over 20 percent is high.
- Read added sugars in grams, not percent. The Daily Value of 50 grams reflects older guidance than the Dietary Guidelines now in force.
- Scan the ingredient list for partially hydrogenated oil whenever the panel says 0 grams trans fat, because the rounding rule permits up to 0.49 grams per serving.
- Ignore the front of the package. Until the proposed Nutrition Info box is finalised, the front is marketing and the back is regulated.
- Compare two products at the same serving size, converting if the reference amounts differ. This is where most label comparisons quietly go wrong.
What is odd about the Nutrition Facts panel is that it is one of the most carefully regulated pieces of text an ordinary person encounters, and it still cannot quite keep up with the advice it exists to serve. The added sugars line is now anchored to a Daily Value that the current Dietary Guidelines have effectively abandoned, and the word healthy on the front will mean something different in 2028 than it does today. The panel is reliable about what is in the package. It is less reliable as a verdict on whether you should eat it.
Where these figures come from
- US Food and Drug Administration, Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label; How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label; What is on the Nutrition Facts Label
- US Food and Drug Administration, Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels, and Added Sugars on the Nutrition Facts Label
- 21 CFR 101.9, nutrition labelling of food, including rounding rules
- US Food and Drug Administration, Final Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils, 2015
- US Food and Drug Administration, Use of the Term Healthy on Food Labeling final rule, December 2024
- US Food and Drug Administration, Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling proposed rule, January 2025
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025 to 2030, US Department of Health and Human Services and US Department of Agriculture, January 2026
General information, current as of September 2026, and not personalised dietary or medical advice. Labelling rules are changing; check the primary sources before relying on any of this.
Frequently asked questions
Is sugar from fruit counted as added sugar?
No. Naturally occurring sugars in whole fruit and plain dairy appear in total sugars but not in the added sugars line. Sweeteners added during processing count as added sugars, including honey and fruit juice concentrates.
What does the 2,000-calorie basis mean for me?
It is a reference point, not a personal target. Individual needs vary with age, size, and activity. The percentages still work well for comparing products against each other.
Are ingredient lists trustworthy?
Yes, they are regulated by the FDA and ordered by weight. They are usually more revealing than any claim on the front of the box.
