Nutrient Reference Values (NRV)

The human body is made up of thousands of billions of cells, which need very small amounts of vitamins and minerals every day to carry out all their functions effectively.

These substances are present, though distributed unevenly, in food, both of plant origin (fruit, vegetables, pulses) and of animal origin (meat, eggs, fish, milk, cheese): hence the importance of choosing to follow a varied and balanced diet – which goes hand in hand with adopting a healthy lifestyle – in order to ensure we consume all the vitamins and minerals necessary for maintaining our wellbeing.

On 13 December 2014, the new European Regulation 1169/2011 came into force, governing, across all European countries, the labelling of food products – that is, the information that must be provided to consumers purchasing any foodstuff, and therefore, to some extent, food supplements as well.

Among the many changes, the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), which indicates the amount of vitamins and minerals that a healthy adult should consume every day to meet their minimum daily requirements, has been replaced by the VNR (Nutritional Reference Values), NRV (Nutrient Reference Values) in the English version.

From a quantitative point of view, however, nothing changes for consumers, as the VNR reference values are identical to those of the RDA.

The Italian Ministry of Health has also set the maximum daily amount that may be provided by a food supplement for each vitamin and mineral.