Every day the average adult needs a certain amount of each of the vitamins. That amount is referred to as the DV, the daily value. The DV for Vitamins A and C serves as the basis for information on present-day food labels.

Detailed information about the vitamins in packaged food was not always available to the customer. At one time, the manufacturers of packaged food told consumers that the contents within their advertised products were "nutritious" or "healthy." Yet those manufacturers did not put on their packages any information that could back-up their claims. Those consumers did not know what vitamins were in the contents of each food package.

In 1994 the United States Congress passed the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act. That act gave food manufacturers an added responsibility. Now food labels must provide in large type information about the fat, calories and ingredients in packaged food. Those labels must also disclose how much of the DV for Vitamins A and C would be provided to a consumer eating one serving of that same product.

Present-day labels contain the words "Vitamin A" and "Vitamin C," printed in large letters. Next to each of those words is a number and a percent sign (the DV%). This number relates to a daily diet of 2000 calories. In such a diet, a single portion of the packaged food with the label under study would provide the consumer with the given percent of their DV for each of those two vitamins (A and C).

If a consumer was eating less than 2000 calories per day, then that consumer would still need to eat enough of vitamins A and C in order to reach the DV for those two vitamins. Such an individual would benefit from eating packaged food with a large DV% next to the words "Vitamin A" and "Vitamin C" on the food label.