The Difference Between “serving Size” and “serving Size” (and Why It Matters)
Have you ever enjoyed an Oreos cookie when someone decided to tamper with the fact that the serving size is actually only three cookies? We hear about “portion sizes”, “servings” and often “portion control” all the time, but what do they really mean? Is there a meaningful difference, or do they all end up making you feel weird about how many cookies you just ate?
If you are confused, you are not alone. A new consumer survey * by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) reports that while nearly half (48%) of participants correctly identified “serving size”, the same percentage “incorrectly associated serving size determination with serving size determination”. Here’s the difference between serving and serving size, and what that means for your health goals.
Serving Sizes: What the Label Says
A serving size is the standardized amount of food you see at the top of a nutrition label. One package of food can (and often does) contain multiple servings, and serving size does not mean how much you should eat in one sitting. In fact, the FDA explicitly states that “By law, portion sizes must be based on the amount of food people typically consume, not how much they should be consuming.”
In 2016, the FDA made changes to many nutrition information labels so that when people look at the calories and nutrients on the label, serving sizes more closely match what they are consuming. For example, ice cream serving size has long been listed as half a cup, but now it’s a much more realistic two-thirds of a cup. But does that mean that two-thirds of a cup of ice cream is how much you ” should ” be eating? Not really.
Serving Sizes: How Much You Really Eat
Serving size is simply how much food you eat in one sitting. How much you eat depends on personal preference and dietary needs, not what is written on the label.
Some reasons you might want to know your portion sizes include meeting your nutritional needs, preventing food waste, and feeling comfortably full while eating.
Why is it important
The IFIC survey found that while serving sizes are not meant to recommend how much to eat, many consumers do use them for that purpose. Similarly, Dr. Ali Webster says in Healthline that “a lot of people seem to have internalized this information as a recommendation about how much to eat when that’s not necessarily the case.”
It’s true that understanding portion sizes helps you understand food labels so you can get a better idea of the nutritional content of your food based on how many servings you eat. However, your servings can be much larger or smaller than the serving size for a number of reasons.
Here’s one way the difference between serving size and serving size can come into play: A serving size of grapes is half a cup (about 16 grapes). However, if you take about two handfuls, your serving size can be a full cup – two servings. Knowing your personal serving size would be essential for counting calories, tracking macros, or telling your doctor how much fruit you typically get in your diet.
bottom line
While the serving size will be the same for everyone who looks at the nutrition information label, the serving size depends on your body and your needs. Use serving sizes to understand the nutritional value of a product. Serving size should then be driven by personal factors such as signs of hunger and health goals. In short: portion sizes are mass-produced; Portion sizes are individual.
* Survey uses data from interviews with 1,000 adults aged 18 and over, conducted in November 2021 and published in January 2022.