Give Him a Break! Stossel on Serving Size

John Stossel of ABC News 20/20 says, "a lot of us rely on labels to count calories, carbs, and salt, and may not realize that the amounts shown are not per package, but per serving. And what some call a serving is small. . .

How about the Bon Appetit blueberry muffin? Most people would eat one for breakfast. And when the label tells you there are just 215 calories per serving, you'd think you were having a reasonably low-cal breakfast. But you might be surprised to see that the label, in tiny print, also says the serving size is one third of a muffin. So, your low-cal breakfast jumps to 645 calories if you're like most people and you eat the whole muffin." August 13 show

The FDA site suggests you first look at the serving size before anything else on the label: "Pay attention to the serving size, including how many servings there are in the food package, and compare it to how much YOU actually eat. The size of the serving on the food package influences all the nutrient amounts listed on the top part of the label."

In August, Dr. Lester Crawford, the acting director of the FDA issued a report that included moving forward on the recommendation to give prominence to calories and serving size on the food label including proposing to increase the font size and provide a daily value percentage for calories.