Daily Value Chart: Complete FDA Values by Age Group

This daily value chart contains every FDA Daily Value in 21 CFR 101.9, using the units specified by the regulation and covering all four population groups it defines. Use it when you need the correct reference value for calculating the % Daily Value on a Nutrition Facts panel.

The tables reproduce the Daily Reference Values from 101.9(c)(9) and the complete Reference Daily Intake table from 101.9(c)(8)(iv), followed by the rounding rules used to turn a calculated percentage into the number printed on the label.

This page is the reference rather than the tutorial. For an explanation of the concepts, read how Daily Values work on the Nutrition Facts label. For the calculation itself, use the % Daily Value calculator. If the terminology is causing confusion, the section on Daily Value vs RDI vs RDA explains the differences.

Daily value chart: the two types of FDA Daily Value

Daily Value is an umbrella term. Under it are two separate sets of reference values established in different parts of the regulation, and they do not always follow the same rules.

Daily Reference Values (DRVs) are labeling reference values for macronutrients and other food components: total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, total carbohydrate, sodium, dietary fiber, protein and added sugars. They are established in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(9). For adults and children 4 and older, they are based on a 2,000 calorie reference intake.

Reference Daily Intakes (RDIs) are labeling reference values for vitamins and minerals, plus protein for infants, children 1 through 3, and pregnant and lactating women. They are established in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(8)(iv) and are derived from the Institute of Medicine and National Academies Dietary Reference Intakes.

Neither DRV nor RDI appears as a term on the finished Nutrition Facts panel. Both are presented simply as "% Daily Value."

You still need to know which category a nutrient belongs to because the %DV rounding rules differ between the two groups.

FDA Daily Value chart for DRVs, 21 CFR 101.9(c)(9)

These are the eight food components with Daily Reference Values across all four population columns.

N/A means the regulation does not establish a Daily Value for that population. It does not mean the value is zero. When a nutrient is N/A for a population, no %DV is declared for that nutrient on a label intended for that population.

Food component	Unit	Adults and children 4+ (2,000 kcal)	Infants through 12 months	Children 1 through 3 (1,000 kcal)	Pregnant and lactating women
Total fat	g	78	30	39	78
Saturated fat	g	20	N/A	10	20
Cholesterol	mg	300	N/A	300	300
Total carbohydrate	g	275	95	150	275
Sodium	mg	2,300	N/A	1,500	2,300
Dietary fiber	g	28	N/A	14	28
Protein	g	50	N/A	13	N/A
Added sugars	g	50	N/A	25	50

Protein creates two common complications.

For adults and children 4 and older, protein %DV is not normally required unless you make a protein claim. When a claim makes the percentage mandatory, you cannot simply divide the protein grams by 50 g. The value must be corrected for protein quality using PDCAAS.

Protein %DV is required for foods intended for infants and children under 4.

Protein also appears across both regulatory tables. The DRV of 50 g applies to adults and children 4 and older, while the DRV of 13 g applies to children 1 through 3. The RDI table supplies the values for infants at 11 g and pregnant and lactating women at 71 g.

Complete daily values chart for vitamins and minerals

This is the complete nutrition Daily Value chart for micronutrients under 21 CFR 101.9(c)(8)(iv).

Every nutrient with an RDI is included rather than only the four nutrients normally required on the Nutrition Facts panel.

The unit is as important as the reference amount. Vitamin A is expressed in mcg RAE, niacin in mg NE, folate in mcg DFE, and vitamin E in mg alpha-tocopherol. Using the wrong unit is one of the easiest ways to produce an incorrect micronutrient %DV.

Nutrient	Unit	Adults and children 4+	Infants 1 through 12 months	Children 1 through 3	Pregnant and lactating women
Vitamin D	mcg	20	10	15	15
Calcium	mg	1,300	260	700	1,300
Iron	mg	18	11	7	27
Potassium	mg	4,700	700	3,000	5,100
Vitamin A	mcg RAE	900	500	300	1,300
Vitamin C	mg	90	50	15	120
Vitamin E	mg alpha-tocopherol	15	5	6	19
Vitamin K	mcg	120	2.5	30	90
Thiamin	mg	1.2	0.3	0.5	1.4
Riboflavin	mg	1.3	0.4	0.5	1.6
Niacin	mg NE	16	4	6	18
Vitamin B6	mg	1.7	0.3	0.5	2.0
Folate	mcg DFE	400	80	150	600
Vitamin B12	mcg	2.4	0.5	0.9	2.8
Biotin	mcg	30	6	8	35
Pantothenic acid	mg	5	1.8	2	7
Phosphorus	mg	1,250	275	460	1,250
Iodine	mcg	150	130	90	290
Magnesium	mg	420	75	80	400
Zinc	mg	11	3	3	13
Selenium	mcg	55	20	20	70
Copper	mg	0.9	0.2	0.3	1.3
Manganese	mg	2.3	0.6	1.2	2.6
Chromium	mcg	35	5.5	11	45
Molybdenum	mcg	45	3	17	50
Chloride	mg	2,300	570	1,500	2,300
Choline	mg	550	150	200	550
Protein (RDI)	g	N/A (DRV 50 g applies)	11	N/A (DRV 13 g applies)	71

Several values do not follow an intuitive progression across population groups.

Iron is higher for pregnant and lactating women at 27 mg than for adults generally at 18 mg. It is lower for children 1 through 3 at 7 mg than for infants at 11 mg.

Vitamin D is highest for adults and children 4 and older at 20 mcg rather than for pregnant and lactating women, whose value is 15 mcg.

Magnesium is 400 mg for pregnant and lactating women compared with 420 mg for adults and children 4 and older.

Do not assume that values simply increase from one population column to the next.

FDA Daily Value unit conversions

The regulation defines its own units of account for three nutrients. These conversions are part of the regulatory framework rather than conventions you can substitute with another method.

For vitamin A:

• 1 mcg RAE = 1 mcg retinol.
• 1 mcg RAE = 2 mcg supplemental beta-carotene.
• 1 mcg RAE = 12 mcg dietary beta-carotene.
• 1 mcg RAE = 24 mcg dietary alpha-carotene or beta-cryptoxanthin.

The sixfold difference between supplemental and dietary beta-carotene is particularly easy to lose in a formulation spreadsheet.

For niacin:

• 1 mg NE = 1 mg niacin.
• 1 mg NE = 60 mg tryptophan.

For folate:

• 1 mcg DFE = 1 mcg naturally occurring folate.
• 1 mcg DFE = 0.6 mcg folic acid.

The folate conversion can initially seem backward. Folic acid is more bioavailable, so a smaller quantity of folic acid provides the same DFE.

When folic acid is added to a food or is the subject of a claim, the folic acid amount is listed in parentheses in mcg alongside the folate declaration.

Vitamin D may also be expressed in IU in parentheses. The mcg amount is the required declaration, while IU is optional supplementary information. That is the reverse of the pre-2016 approach, when IU was the declared unit.

The four mandatory micronutrients in the Daily Value chart

Twenty-seven vitamins and minerals have RDIs, but exactly four must appear on a standard Nutrition Facts panel. For all four, the actual quantity must be declared in addition to %DV.

Nutrient	Daily Value (adults and children 4+)	Declared as
Vitamin D	20 mcg	mcg plus %DV; IU may be added in parentheses
Calcium	1,300 mg	mg plus %DV
Iron	18 mg	mg plus %DV
Potassium	4,700 mg	mg plus %DV

The remaining nutrients in the RDI table are voluntary.

Voluntary does not mean they always remain optional. A voluntary nutrient becomes mandatory when you make a claim about it or add it to the food as a nutrient supplement.

Fortify a cereal with zinc and zinc must be declared. Put "excellent source of vitamin C" on the front of the package and vitamin C must be declared.

Vitamins A and C are common sources of confusion because both were mandatory before the 2016 Nutrition Facts changes and are voluntary now. Older Nutrition Facts templates may still include them by default.

How to round values from the Daily Value chart

The two nutrient families use different %DV rounding rules, and the finished Nutrition Facts label does not tell the reader which rounding method was applied.

Nutrient family	Calculated %DV range	Round to	Example
Macronutrients with DRVs (fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, carbohydrate, sodium, fiber, protein, added sugars)	All values	Nearest whole percent	12 g added sugars divided by 50 g equals 24%, printed as 24%
Vitamins and minerals with RDIs	Up to and including 10%	Nearest 2% increment	A calculated 7% is printed as 8%; 5% is printed as 6% or 4% by nearest-increment rounding
Vitamins and minerals with RDIs	Above 10% through 50%	Nearest 5% increment	A calculated 23% is printed as 25%
Vitamins and minerals with RDIs	Above 50%	Nearest 10% increment	A calculated 72% is printed as 70%

For macronutrients, %DV may be calculated using either the rounded amount declared on the label or the actual unrounded nutrient amount.

Either method is acceptable as long as it is applied consistently.

The milk label example demonstrates the RDI rounding ladder on an actual panel, including calcium %DV calculated against the 1,300 mg Daily Value and rounded to a 5% increment.

The Daily Value calculator applies both rounding families automatically. Nutrient targets works in the opposite direction, calculating the gram or milligram amount needed per serving to reach a particular %DV.

Nutrients with no Daily Value and the below-2-percent options

Three items on or associated with the Nutrition Facts panel have no Daily Value.

Trans fat has no Daily Value, so its gram amount is declared while the %DV column remains blank.

Total Sugars also has no Daily Value. That is why the label provides grams for Total Sugars but places %DV only on the indented "Includes X g Added Sugars" line beneath it.

Calories from Fat also had no Daily Value and was removed from the Nutrition Facts label entirely by the 2016 rule.

When a vitamin or mineral is present at less than 2 percent of its RDI, declaration is not required.

If you choose to address the nutrient, the regulation gives you three options:

• Show 0.
• Use an asterisk linked to the statement "Contains less than 2 percent of the Daily Value of this (these) nutrient(s)."
• For the four mandatory micronutrients specifically, use the "Not a significant source of ..." statement.

The same "not a significant source" mechanism applies to omitted Added Sugars and Total Sugars lines when a product contains less than 1 g of either and makes no sweetener or sugar claim.

How the FDA Daily Value chart changed in 2016

The values in the tables above are the Daily Values established by the 2016 rule.

They became mandatory on 1 January 2020 for businesses with $10 million or more in annual food sales and on 1 January 2021 for smaller businesses. They remain the values in force today.

Several important Daily Values changed:

• Sodium decreased from 2,400 mg to 2,300 mg.
• Dietary fiber increased from 25 g to 28 g.
• Total fat increased from 65 g to 78 g.
• Total carbohydrate decreased from 300 g to 275 g.
• Calcium increased from 1,000 mg to 1,300 mg.
• Potassium increased from 3,500 mg to 4,700 mg.
• Vitamin D changed from 400 IU to 20 mcg, changing both its reference value and declared unit.

The same rule introduced Added Sugars with a 50 g Daily Value and renamed Sugars as Total Sugars.

It also made vitamin D and potassium mandatory while making vitamins A and C voluntary, removed Calories from Fat, required actual gram or milligram amounts for the four mandatory micronutrients instead of %DV alone, switched vitamin A to mcg RAE, and switched folate to mcg DFE.

The old footnote table containing separate 2,000 and 2,500 calorie reference columns was also removed.

If a Daily Values chart still lists sodium at 2,400 mg or vitamin D primarily in IU, it predates the current rule and should not be used for a current Nutrition Facts panel.

If you do not want to apply more than thirty reference values and two separate rounding systems manually to every SKU, the Nutrition Facts label generator contains the complete 101.9 tables and generates the panel from your recipe data using the appropriate population column and rounding rules.

Daily value chart frequently asked questions

What is a Daily Value?

A Daily Value is the reference amount FDA establishes for a nutrient for labeling purposes. It allows the % Daily Value on a Nutrition Facts panel to show how much one serving contributes toward the reference amount. FDA's consumer shorthand is that 5% DV or less per serving is low and 20% DV or more is high.

For nutrients to limit, that shorthand applies to saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. For nutrients to get more of, it applies to dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium.

Are Daily Values the same as RDAs?

No. An RDA, or Recommended Dietary Allowance, is a Dietary Reference Intake established by the National Academies for nutrition science and represents an intake that meets the needs of 97 to 98 percent of healthy individuals within a particular life-stage and sex group.

FDA's RDIs are separate regulatory labeling values codified in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(8)(iv). A nutrient can have multiple RDAs but needs one applicable labeling reference value, so substituting an RDA for an FDA RDI can produce an incorrect %DV. Macronutrient labeling also uses DRVs, which have no RDA counterpart.

Did the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines change the FDA Daily Value chart?

No. The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released on 7 January 2026 and include new dietary advice, such as no more than 10 g added sugars per meal and avoiding added sugars for children until age 10. They did not change the Daily Values in 21 CFR 101.9.

Changing a Daily Value requires notice-and-comment rulemaking, and no such rulemaking has been proposed. Continue using the values in the tables above.

Which Daily Values apply to food marketed to both adults and toddlers?

A food intended for two population groups needs nutrition information for both. In practice, that means a side-by-side or aggregate display with one %DV column using the values for adults and children 4 and older and another using the values for children 1 through 3.

The toddler column is not simply a different denominator. Foods for children 1 through 3 must declare calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, total sugars, added sugars, protein, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium.

They also use the footnote "The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 1,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice" instead of the 2,000 calorie version.

Foods for infants through 12 months go further. They show no %DV for saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, dietary fiber, total sugars or added sugars, and they carry no footnote at all.