How to Calculate the Percentage for Daily Values in a Product

If you are trying to have a healthy lifestyle, you should try to meet your daily values for nutrients and vitamins. If you look on the side label of food products, you will see percentages. These percentages tell you how much of a nutrient or vitamin you are taking into your body for one serving of the food. Your body requires different amounts of each nutrient and vitamin, so you should try to get 100 percent of each every day.

Instructions

• 1

  Find how much of a nutrient or vitamin is in what you are eating per serving. For example, assume you are eating cereal that has 30 milligrams of vitamin C.

• 2

  Find the recommended daily intake of that nutrient or vitamin. A list is available in References. In the example, you should eat 60 milligrams of vitamin C each day.

• 3

  Divide the amount of the nutrient or vitamin per serving you are eating by the recommended daily intake of that nutrient or vitamin. In the example, 30 milligrams divided by 60 milligrams equals 0.5. Multiply that calculation by 100 to find that the serving provides 50 percent of your daily value of vitamin C.