Nutrition labels should make your diet + nutrition choices easier, but sometimes they do they exact opposite. And that’s the case when it comes to the Daily Value %. Over the last few months, I’ve repeatedly seen the Daily Value % used or discussed in ways that just don’t make sense. As well as people who are afraid to take a particular supplement we might recommend to them because the Daily Value looks like an astronomical number. And that’s troubling for me as a nutrition professional who firmly believes that the Daily Value % (%DV) is misleading and, frankly, total garbage. Since these values are so confusing to people in general as well as my community, I figured it was time to set the record straight. My hope is that you’ll see how pointless this required section is on a US nutrition label + why you should never, ever bother using it as a guide for diet + nutrition choices. In this episode: Why the Daily Value on a US nutrition label should be ignored History of the Daily Value + the RDA (important context!) Concerns from industry experts about lobbyist influence over nutrition information Real life example showing why the Daily Value is worthless Huge problems with the Daily Value Quotes: What you need to know is that the RDA is supposed to be used as a metric or goal of nutrient intake specifically for healthy individuals – not those who are sick or chronically ill. The Daily Value is misleading because an amount higher than 100% could scare someone that they were potentially overconsuming that nutrient.