Daily Recommended Values
Do you know what the daily recommended values (DV) are for everything on that nutrition label? It’s like budgeting, you don’t know if you’re doing well or doing poorly unless you have a reference point. Daily recommended values is the FDA’s way of setting reference points and it’s important to know what they are, even if it’s only at a high level.
Here are the high level numbers:
- Calories: 2,000
- Fat: 30% of calories – 65g
- Saturated fat: 10% of calories – 20g
- Carbohydrates: 60% of calories
- Protein: 10% of calories
- Fiber: 11.5g per 1,000 calories
- Sodium: 2,400 mg
- Cholesterol: 300 mg
That’s a ballpark estimate, obviously younger people who are growing will need more calories and those who are older will need less.
‘Daily Values’ Encourage Healthy Diet [FDA.gov]
2 People have left comments on this post
Jul 21, 2008 - 10:07:30Despite what the article says, those look like the RDAs for an adult woman, especially the 2000 calories. For an adult male it’s 2500. And for children it varies depending on age. (They don’t need more calories than an adult.)
Actually, those numbers are way off what we have in the UK, which suggests a maximum fat intake of 70g for a woman, and 90-95g for a man. I always thought the fat numbers were too high, personally, but 65g seems a bit on the low side.
I’m not sure there is a guide to recommended protein or carb levels, as they’re very dependent on the individual’s activity and needs.
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