Turn a box of Teddy Grahams over and the side panel gives you a dozen numbers in small type. Most of them barely move from flavor to flavor. A few tell you what you need to know in under a minute, in the order the federal label guide suggests reading them.
For label facts, the numbers here are taken from the Teddy Grahams line as it stands on our front page.
Start with the serving size
The FDA guide to the Nutrition Facts label puts it plainly: look at the serving size and the number of servings before anything else. Serving sizes are standardized so that similar foods can be compared, and they are given in a familiar unit, then in grams.
On a 10 oz Teddy Grahams box the serving is 24 pieces, 30 g, with about nine servings per box. On a Honey snack pack the serving is the whole pouch, 28 g. Every number further down the label refers to that serving, so a bowl of 48 bears means doubling each of them.
| Product | Serving | Calories | Sugars | Added sugars | Sodium | Fiber | Contains |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honey box | 24 pieces (30 g) | 130 | 8 g | not printed | 100 mg | 2 g | wheat, soy |
| Chocolate box | 24 pieces (30 g) | 130 | 8 g | not printed | 115 mg | 2 g | wheat, soy |
| Chocolatey Chip box | 24 pieces (30 g) | 130 | 7 g | 7 g | 85 mg | 1 g | wheat, soy |
| Honey snack packs | 1 pack (28 g) | 120 | 7 g | 7 g | 85 mg | 1 g | wheat, soy |
Calories and the flavors side by side
The box labels we have list 130 calories per 30 g serving for Honey, Chocolate and Chocolatey Chip. The Honey snack pack lists 120 for its 28 g. The differences between flavors are smaller than the difference between one handful and two, which is the practical point: the portion you serve decides more than the flavor you pick.
Total sugars and added sugars
Newer labels print two sugar lines. Total Sugars counts everything, while Added Sugars counts the sugars put in during processing. The FDA page on added sugars lists what falls under that heading: sugars such as sucrose or dextrose, and sugars from syrups and honey. So in a Honey graham, the honey counts as added sugar along with the sugar and dextrose on the ingredient list.
The Daily Value for added sugars is 50 g a day on a 2,000 calorie diet, and the Dietary Guidelines recommend keeping calories from added sugars under 10 percent of the day. The Chocolatey Chip box lists 7 g of added sugars per serving, which the label counts as 14% of the Daily Value. The Honey snack pack lists the same 7 g for its pouch.
Some product descriptions still carry the older label, which has no Added Sugars line. Where that is the case, the table leaves the cell empty rather than guessing. The package in your cupboard may well be newer than the description.
The 5 and 20 rule
The same FDA guide gives a quick rule for the % Daily Value column: 5% or less of a nutrient per serving is low, 20% or more is high. It also suggests choosing foods higher in %DV for fiber and calcium and lower for saturated fat, sodium and added sugars.
On the older Honey and Chocolate labels, calcium shows 10% of the Daily Value per serving, which sits between those two marks. Sodium per serving runs from 85 to 115 mg across the flavors we list.
Whole grain on the front, graham flour first
The descriptions of the Honey, Chocolate, Chocolatey Chip and Cinnamon packs say 8 g of whole grain per serving. The ingredient list shows where it comes from: graham flour, which is whole grain wheat flour, is the first ingredient on the Honey and Chocolate boxes. On the Cinnamon pouches enriched flour comes first and graham flour third.
- Serving size and servings per container first.
- Then calories for that serving, multiplied by what you actually pour.
- Total Sugars and, on newer labels, Added Sugars, with the 50 g Daily Value in mind.
- The Contains line at the end of the ingredients.
Labels change more often than people expect. Use the numbers here to compare flavors, and the label on your own box to decide.