What is the Difference Between the RDA & DV for a Vitamin and Mineral?

RDAs are recommended daily intakes of a nutrient for healthy people. They tell you how much of that nutrient you should get on average each day. RDAs are developed by the Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. They vary by age, gender and whether a woman is pregnant or breastfeeding; so there are many different RDAs for each nutrient.

DVs were developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help consumers determine the level of various nutrients in a serving of a product or food in relation to their approximate requirement for it. The label actually provides the %DV so that consumers can see how much (what percentage) a serving of the product contributes to reaching the DV.