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xxiv Common Misconceptions about Food Labels 2. THE % DAILY VALUE FIGURES ON THE NUTRITION FACTS PANEL ARE PRECISE VALUES THAT APPLY TO EVERYONE Values for many food components listed on the Nutrition Facts panel are provided in both measures of weight (e.g., grams or milligrams) and % Daily Value. Both can be very helpful, but unless people know their daily target for a given nutrient or other food component, the % Daily Value is more useful than the measure of weight. The % Daily Value fi g- ures are derived from a table of nutrition recommendations designed by the FDA. The Daily Values table in turn is based on more complete nutri- tion tables that list nutrition requirements for 22 different population groups based on age, sex, and for women, the conditions of pregnancy and lactation. The Daily Values used on most food labels are for everyone four years of age and older, but they were drawn from the values for adult men and women, 19–30 years old. While nutrition requirements for some nutrients vary little across the 22 categories, others, such as recommen- dations for iron intake, vary quite a bit. To learn more about the Daily Values, see Question 9. 3. FOOD LABEL REGULATIONS ARE REVIEWED AND UPDATED ON A REGULAR SCHEDULE The regulations governing what information must appear, and what infor- mation may not appear, on food labels undergo continual revision. These regulations rest in great part with two federal agencies: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Unlike public health documents, such as Healthy People or the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, that are revised every fi ve years when an ad hoc committee of experts is invited to review and rewrite them, the FDA and USDA are working every day to carry out their many functions, includ- ing the regulation of food labels. Food label regulations are not reviewed and updated on a regular schedule, and rarely in any systematic fashion. Instead, changes in food label regulations are set in motion by a variety of unpredictable factors. For more information on how the food label is updated, see Question 6. 4. ALL CLAIMS APPEARING ON FOOD LABELS ARE REGULATED AND HAVE A CLEAR MEANING Many parts of a food product’s label are regulated, in the United States primarily by the FDA. The FDA has developed extensive regulations