1. Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA): The daily nutrient intake needed to meet dietary requirements for at least 97-98% of healthy Americans. The statistic is vital for determining vitamin deficiencies. We recommend consulting a doctor and/or dietician before adding any dietary supplement to your diet, since a number of studies have shown little to no benefit to daily multivitamins.
Most consumers are very familiar with the idea of % Daily Value (%DV), seen on millions of current supplements. %DV values use the RDA values to calculate 100% daily value for key vitamins and minerals.
Note: The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) standards were designed to expand upon the principles of the % Daily Value calculations, which are still based on 1968 reference data. Product safety experts like LabDoor now emphasize DRI data over existing FDA standards, where available.
2. Upper Intake Level (UL): Many vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin A and Iron, can actually be harmful at high levels. These upper limits for daily nutrient intake do not show up on nutrition labels, but they are arguably even more important than DRI and %DV values. To help consumers make better decisions, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Health and organizations like the FDA have carefully monitored clinical studies involving vitamins and minerals to develop Upper Intake Level (UL) standards to set recommended upper limits.
3. LabDoor Grade: LabDoor rates all supplements on an A – F grade scale, automatically calculating the RDA, %DV, DRI, and UL values for up to 25 key vitamins and minerals in each multivitamin. LabDoor answers the key questions for you: Does it work? Is it safe? What’s the cost? Instead of spending all day staring at supplement labels, use LabDoor mobile/web apps to instantly pick the best product for you. Product safety report cards can be found at LabDoor.com.