Guideline Daily Amounts
Guideline Daily Amounts or GDAs are a guide to what people can consume each day for a healthy, balanced diet.
| Typical values | Women | Men | Children (5-10 years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 2,000 kcal | 2,500 kcal | 1,800 kcal |
| Protein | 45 g | 55 g | 24 g |
| Carbohydrate | 230 g | 300g | 220 g |
| Sugars | 90 g | 120 g | 85 g |
| Fat | 70 g | 95 g | 70 g |
| Saturates | 20 g | 30 g | 20 g |
| Fibre | 24 g | 24 g | 15 g |
| Salt | 6 g | 6 g | 4 g |
More detailed information is available from the GDA Labelling website.
GDA Labelling
The GDA label shows the number of calories and amount of sugars, fat, saturates (saturated fat) and salt per portion of food in grams. This is also expressed as a percentage of your Guideline Daily Amount.
Reading Food Labels
It is important to know what quantities are considered high or low of sugars, fat, saturates (saturated fat) and salt.
What is considered "a lot" of fat, salt and sugar per 100g of food?
- 20g fat or more
- 5g saturated fat or more
- 0.5g sodium or more
- 10g sugars or more
What is considered "a little" fat, salt and sugar per 100g of food?
- 3g fat or less
- 1g saturated fat or less
- 0.1g sodium
- 2g sugars or less
Traffic Light Labelling
As an alternative to the GDA label and to make food labelling simpler and easier to read at a glance, the Food Standards Agency has approved traffic light labels which indicate whether food has high (red), medium (amber) or low (green) amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt.
In addition to traffic light colours the number of grams of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt are indicated for a typical ‘serving’ of the food.