A granola bar label says 200 calories per serving, and the package contains 2 servings. A student eats the entire package. How many calories did they consume?
A100 calories
B200 calories
C400 calories
DIt depends on their age
Every number on a nutrition label is per serving. If one serving is 200 calories and the package has 2 servings, eating the whole package means eating 2 × 200 = 400 calories. This is the single most important thing to check first on any label -- the serving size determines what all the other numbers mean.
Question 2 True / False
On a food label, %DV stands for percent daily value. A cereal shows 25% DV for iron. This means the cereal is 25% iron.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
Percent daily value tells you what fraction of your recommended daily intake of a nutrient one serving provides -- not what fraction of the food is made up of that nutrient. If a cereal shows 25% DV for iron, it means one serving gives you a quarter of the iron you need for the entire day. The cereal itself is not 25% iron -- iron makes up a tiny fraction of the food's weight.
Question 3 Short Answer
You are comparing two brands of yogurt. Brand A has 12g of sugar per serving (serving size: 150g). Brand B has 8g of sugar per serving (serving size: 100g). Which brand actually has more sugar per gram of yogurt, and why does serving size matter for this comparison?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: Brand A has 12g/150g = 0.08g sugar per gram. Brand B has 8g/100g = 0.08g sugar per gram. They are actually the same. Serving size matters because different products use different serving sizes, so comparing the raw numbers without adjusting for serving size can be misleading.
This question reveals why serving size is critical for fair comparisons. Brand A looks worse (12g vs 8g), but its serving size is 50% larger. When you normalize to the same amount of yogurt, they're identical. Always check serving sizes before concluding one product is healthier than another.