Nutrition Science Basics Activity

Choose one activity from the two options below (or try both!) and have fun.

Option 1: Investigating Nutrition Labels

Directions to investigating nutrition labels:

  1. Gather Materials:

      • Paper

      • Pen/pencil

      • A nutrition label

  2. Go to your kitchen and find one nutrient label for this activity OR you can use the provided label images.

  3. Look at the label to answer the following questions:

      • Write down 1 “whole” ingredient and 1 processed/artificial ingredient.

      • Write down the serving size of your food/drink product.

      • Food companies often put sugar into our food without us realizing it by using different names for sugar such as: sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, maltose, can syrup, and more. Can you find a "hidden" form of sugar on your label?

Option 2: How Much Sugar is in This??

Directions to "how much sugar is in this?":

  1. Gather Materials:

      • Sugary beverage

      • Sugar

      • Measure spoons/cups

      • A glass

  2. Measure how much sugar is in your drink (pay attention to the serving size!)

      • Labels usually measure sugar in grams instead of teaspoons.

      • 4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon

  3. Pour all the measured sugar into an empty glass. It's a lot, isn't it?!


Example:

Looking at the nutrition label above (1 gallon of chocolate milk), we see that 1 serving is 1 CUP and it contains 24 grams of sugar (6 teaspoons)! That is the maximum recommended amount of added sugar you should drink in 1 day!