Numerous organizations worldwide publish recommendations regarding the amounts of each nutrient you should consume each day to avoid nutrient deficiencies and other health problems.
In the U.S., these recommendations are the Dietary Reference Intakes, which include the older and more well-known Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA).1 Nutrition labels in the U.S., however, provide the Daily Value (DV), which is intended to show what percentage of the RDA a serving of a food covers, based on the requirements of the average adult following a 2,000 calorie/day diet. Depending on age, activity level, gender, etc., a person's actual needs may be higher or lower than what the DV reflects.2
In the European Union, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is currently working to provide an updated list of dietary reference values (DRVs). The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also partner to release their own recommended nutrient intakes (RNIs). Again, these recommendations depend on factors such as age and weight and are therefore rather complex. Both the recommendations of the EFSA and the WHO/FAO can be found in numerous reports published online.
As in the U.S., however, food labels in Europe use Reference Intakes (RI) to show consumers what percentage of their daily nutrient requirements a food covers. Like the DV, the RI are based on an average adult's 2,000 calorie diet. The table below compares the DV and the RI for several important nutrients.
| DV (US) | RI (Europe) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 2000 | 2000 |
| Total Fat | 65 g | 70 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g | 20 g |
| Carbohydrates | 300 g | 230 g |
| Protein |
50 g | 50 g |
| Fiber | 25 g | 24 g |
| Sugar | n/a* | 90** g |
| Sodium | 2400 mg | 2400 mg |
Data from: Food and Drink Federation and U.S. Food and Drug Administration
*There is currently no DV for sugar. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 25 grams added sugar per day for women and 36 grams/day for men. 3
**This accounts for both naturally-occurring and added sugars.
