I came across Nutrition Information on the back of a packet of crisps recently and wondered if this should be Nutritional Information? Which is correct and what's the difference in meaning between the two?
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1Do you think they just save ink by omitting those two letters?– Victor BazarovCommented Oct 22, 2015 at 14:11
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It's basically a tie on ngrams: books.google.com/ngrams/…– AdamCommented Oct 22, 2015 at 20:23
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4 Answers
"Nutrition Information" is correct. In this case "Nutrition" is a noun adjunct, meaning a noun has been used as an adjective. This is very common in English. For example, say "chicken soup" instead of "soup of chicken".
In fact, nearly any noun can be an adjective.
- If you are going to a show about cars, you can call it a "car show".
- If you refer to the slide on a trombone, call it a "trombone slide".
- A device used to open cans is a "can opener".
"Nutritional Information" is not necessarily improper grammar, but it sounds like "information that provides nourishment" rather than "information about nutrition". For example, you eat a "nutritional snack" if you are hungry, but you read a "nutrition book" to learn about nutrition.
Yes, formally it should be nutritional information.
Nutrition is a noun and nutritional is the adjective. Since we are describing information, we should use the adjective.
Though nouns are used as adjectives in some cases, this isn't one of those cases. Here are some examples of nouns used as adjectives.
history teacher
race car
water boy
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Yes. But the adjective for "nutrition" is nutritional Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 16:32
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1I don't know that "Nutrition information" is unambiguously wrong unless you refer to the FDA labeling standard. We can say "nutrition campaign", "nutrition educator", or "nutrition facts", for example. I think there is more to be said on why we might choose one form over the other.– ColleenVCommented Oct 22, 2015 at 16:38
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Then how about nutrition related information? What I am getting at is the the "information" itself is not "nutritional", as "nutritional information" implies?– user3169Commented Oct 22, 2015 at 16:38
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My ear can go either way on "nutrition information" vs. "nutritional information." The latter rolls offs the tongue a little easier, but the former looks nicer. If we were talking about value, however, it would have to be nutritional. "Nutrition value" is horrid. Perhaps the word "information" is more welcoming of noun adjuncts than "value" is, because we understand information to always be "about" something.– AdamCommented Oct 22, 2015 at 20:23
'Nutrition Information' is correct. Although to many 'Nutritional' would be the logical choice, there is a very easy way to check this. Ask yourself whether the information is about nutrition, or is it nutritional itself (as in "Mmmmm, such a tasty and also nutritional information, so good for the body...").
I enjoy the benefit of both being an ex English teacher, as well as having a decade of technical experience in food manufacturing, tracking any changes in food labeling regulations.
“Nutrition” information is logically the correct one because it doesn’t feed you. Nutritional would be something that you can eat and that gives you nutrition.
