Dosage recommendations
January 1999

Labeling of dietary supplement dosage recommendations is regulated by the FDA.

The amount of U.S. RDA (Recommended Daily Allowances) on a Nutrition Facts panel is required for foods and was previously used to label dietary supplements.

New dietary supplement regulations went into effect in March of 1999 that require labeling of Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) and which appear as "DV" (Daily Values) on a Supplement Facts panel. DVs recommend higher levels of intake than RDAs.

Government standards for dosage recommendation have been criticized for addressing only adequate levels of nutrition rather than optimum nutritional intakes, thus failing to inform consumers of the potential health benefits that can be rendered from higher dosage levels. The market has demonstrated demand for some ingredients far above those recommended by the government as can be seen on product labels. It is not uncommon to see RDA or DV values of over 1000 (tens times the amount recommended under RDA or DV guidelines).

Because government regulations are slow to change, they can easily fall out of step with the evolving body of nutritional knowledge which is growing rapidly. New information about biologically active components and their recommended use is being discovered all the time.

Furthermore, different individual nutritional needs as well as different health goals may call for different nutritional programs. Therefore, a more flexible, self-regulating means of recommending dosages is needed in order to respond quickly to scientific advances and to best serve the consuming public. This is served indirectly now by the free flow of information to consumers via the press, the Internet, book stores and libraries, and the advice of health care providers.