Tag: Calorie labels

According to the FDA, calorie counts on nutrition labels can legally vary by as much as 20% from the actual calories in a food item. This surprising margin of error can significantly impact your understanding of what you're consuming and affect your weight management efforts over time.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) legally permits a 20% margin of error on packaged food calorie labels. This means the 200-calorie snack you enjoy could realistically contain up to 240 calories. For anyone tracking their intake on a nutrition diet, this raises a critical question: **how far off can calorie labels be?**

According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, calorie counts listed on nutrition labels are legally allowed a margin of error of up to 20%. So, are calorie labels inaccurate? The short answer is yes, they can be, but that doesn't mean they are useless for managing your diet.

A 2025 Cochrane review found that calorie labels result in a modest 1.8% average reduction in calorie selection per meal, casting serious doubt on claims that calorie labeling on menus does not lead to significant dietary changes on a population-wide scale. This minimal impact, often dismissed as negligible, raises questions about the true effectiveness of informational nudges in altering complex consumer behavior. While the policy aims to combat obesity, evidence suggests its real-world effect is far less potent than policymakers may have hoped.