Teo
Cover of The Label Reader: a dark green page with potted plants, a round tree and flowers, under the title and the promise to read supplement and food labels in about two minutes.

What's inside

  • Two annotated label drawings, a Supplement Facts panel and a Nutrition Facts panel, with six numbered callouts each
  • What a supplement bottle may and may not claim, the exact FDA disclaimer, and what USP, NSF and Informed Sport seals check
  • Twelve front-of-pack words, from "natural" to "gluten-free", with what each has to mean in the US, UK and EU
  • UK traffic lights and Nutri-Score, worked through on the same invented cereal
  • A Red Flag Glossary: sixteen label phrases, translated
  • A two-minute routine and a fold-up wallet card

Look inside

Page 3: an invented Supplement Facts panel for a Brand X bottle, with six numbered leaf callouts on serving size, amount per serving, % Daily Value, units, the proprietary blend and other ingredients.Page 10: a table of twelve front-of-pack words, from natural to high protein, showing whether each is regulated and what it has to mean in the US, with UK and EU differences.Page 12: the Red Flag Glossary, sixteen label phrases such as clinically studied ingredient and proprietary blend, each with a short dry translation.

Real pages from the file. Tap one to see it larger.

About it

I'm Teo. I'm ninety-six, I keep my reading glasses on a string, and I read the small print so you don't have to squint.

Every pack you pick up carries two kinds of words. Some are there because a law says so: the Facts panel, the ingredient list, the disclaimer in small bold type. The rest were chosen because somebody thought they would sell. A few of the chosen words have legal definitions. Plenty don't. This guide shows you which is which.

Part one takes an invented supplement bottle apart line by line: serving size, % Daily Value, the units that changed in 2016, what a "proprietary blend" lets a maker keep to itself, and what the seals on a bottle actually check. Part two does the same for a cereal box: the Nutrition Facts panel, the FDA's 5% and 20% rule of thumb, added sugars, and twelve front-of-pack words, from "natural" to "multigrain" to "gluten-free", sorted into regulated and not.

The US rules come first, with boxes for the UK and the EU: food supplement labelling, the list of authorised health claims, traffic lights and Nutri-Score. Every rule comes with a Receipts line, so you can check me.

What it won't do: tell you what to buy, take or eat. Not once. I'm not a doctor or a pharmacist, and no label is written about you. The last page sends you, bottle in hand, to someone who can actually look at you.

Made-up brands, real rules. Fourteen pages, and a card for your wallet.

A page from it

My name is Teo. I’m ninety-six, and I read labels the way other people read the newspaper: at the kitchen table, reading glasses on, a cup of tea going cold beside me.

Here’s what I can do. Every pack carries two kinds of words. Some are printed because a law says so, in a set place and a set format. Others are printed because somebody in a meeting thought they would sell. A few of the chosen words have legal definitions. Plenty don’t. Once you can tell which is which, a label takes about two minutes.

Questions

Does it cover UK and EU labels, or only US ones?
The two drawn labels follow US rules, because that's the format most people meet online. Every section then has UK and EU notes: the food supplement rules, the authorised health claims list, the nutrition claim definitions, traffic lights and Nutri-Score.
Can I print it?
Yes. It's an A4 PDF that prints at home, and it reads fine on a phone or tablet too. On US Letter paper, choose "fit to page" in your print settings. Page 13 is a wallet card: cut along the dashed line and fold it down the middle.
Is this medical advice?
No. I'm not a doctor or a pharmacist. The guide teaches you to read labels and the rules behind them. Questions about what you take belong with a pharmacist or doctor, and the last page suggests what to ask them.
Will it tell me which supplement to buy?
No, and it never will. There are no product recommendations, rankings or doses in it, and the brands in the drawings are invented. It shows you how to read any bottle, so the choice stays with you and whoever looks after you.
Are the rules current?
I checked every rule against its primary source (the US Code of Federal Regulations, FDA and USDA pages, and UK and EU legislation) in September 2026. Rules do change, and the FDA has more labelling work planned. When one changes, I log it publicly at @teoreads.
Do I need a science background?
No. It's written in plain English for anyone who has stood in an aisle holding a bottle and wondered what the words mean. The two-minute routine on page 13 is the whole method on one page.

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