NRV stands for Nutrient Reference Value — a standardised daily intake figure set for adults, used across the UK and EU to give the percentages you see on supplement and food labels a common baseline.
What the percentage tells you
A serving providing "100% NRV" of vitamin C is providing the reference daily amount that labelling regulations use as their yardstick. It's a fixed, published number — not something a manufacturer sets themselves.
What it doesn't tell you
- It isn't a target. NRVs are set at a level intended to meet the needs of most healthy adults — not a recommended amount to aim for from supplements specifically, on top of diet.
- It isn't a safe upper limit. A product can legally state several hundred percent NRV for some nutrients — vitamin B12 and vitamin C among them — because the body handles excess relatively well. That's a different question from whether a high dose is useful.
- It doesn't apply to everything. Ingredients without an established reference value — many botanical extracts, for instance — simply won't have an NRV figure at all. That's expected, not a gap in the label.
The NRV percentage is a useful, standardised way to compare doses across products and against your diet — not a verdict on whether a product is well-formulated or right for you.