What Is a Supplement Facts Panel?

Quick answer

A Supplement Facts panel is the boxed nutrition label the FDA requires on dietary supplements. It gives the serving size, each dietary ingredient with its amount per serving, and a % Daily Value where one exists. The title must be the largest type in the box, and other text at least 8 point on most packages.^1,2

Key facts

Every supplement offered for sale must carry this panel, apart from a few exemptions for very small businesses, low volume products without claims and bulk product made for other supplements.^1,2
Ingredients with no Daily Value, such as herbal extracts, are still listed with their weight per serving and a symbol meaning Daily Value not established.^1,2
A mineral's amount is the weight of the mineral itself, such as calcium, not of the compound it comes in, such as calcium carbonate.¹
Unlike a Nutrition Facts label, the panel may name an ingredient's source, must name the plant part for botanicals, and leaves out nutrients present at zero.²
NIH's Dietary Supplement Label Database held the printed information from more than 125,000 current and past supplement labels in 2021.³

What the panel lists, from top to bottom

Serving Size, stated in a unit that suits the product, such as tablets, capsules, packets or teaspoonfuls.¹
Servings Per Container, which can be left off when the net quantity already says it, for example 100 tablets with a 1 tablet serving.^1,2
A heading over the amounts, Amount Per Serving or a form that matches the serving, such as Each Tablet Contains or Amount Per 2 Tablets.¹
Nutrients that have a Daily Value, each with its amount and % Daily Value. Vitamins and minerals follow an order the FDA fixes, beginning with vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin D.¹
Other dietary ingredients with no Daily Value, such as herbs, extracts or a proprietary blend, below a heavy bar, each with its weight per serving or the blend's total.¹
Footnotes inside the box, such as the symbol that means Daily Value not established.¹

Ingredients not named inside the panel, such as fillers, binders and flavors, go in a separate list printed directly below it, or to its right when there is no room below.⁴

How it differs from a Nutrition Facts label

It must list dietary ingredients that have no Daily Value; a food label may not.²
It may name the source of a nutrient in parentheses, as in Calcium (as calcium carbonate); a food label may not.^1,2
For a botanical it must say which part of the plant is used, such as root or leaf.²
It leaves out nutrients present at zero, where a food label must show them.²

A supplement panel may also add a per unit column, or a per day column when the directions call for more than one serving a day, beside the required per serving figures.¹

Rules for how it looks

The FDA sets the look as well as the content. The information is enclosed in a box drawn with hairlines, the title is set larger than any other print in it and runs the full width where practical, and the title and headings are bold. Text uses one easy to read type style in one color on a contrasting background.¹

Type is at least 8 point on most packages, with 6 point allowed for column headings and footnotes. Packages with less than 12 square inches for labeling may go down to 4.5 point, and if they make no claims they may give a phone number or address for the information instead.^1,2

Looking up a panel

NIH runs the Dietary Supplement Label Database, a free public record of what supplement labels say. It started in 2008, held more than 125,000 current and past labels by 2021, and is used to track changes in what products contain.^3,5

Label data has limits. NIH researchers note that the chemical form, the type of extract and the amount of an ingredient can be hard to pin down from a label, especially inside proprietary blends.⁶

Questions people ask

Does the amount on the panel have to be exact?

Not to the milligram. For vitamins and minerals added to a product, FDA rules expect at least the full declared amount, allowing for the normal margin of the analytical method. Naturally occurring ones must reach at least 80 percent of it, and reasonable amounts above the label are acceptable under good manufacturing practice.^1,2,7

Why do some panels show a per day column?

When the directions recommend more than one serving a day, the maker may add a per day column, or a note such as multiply amounts by 3, next to the per serving figures that every panel must show.¹

Is a Supplement Facts panel the same as a Nutrition Facts label?

No. Foods carry Nutrition Facts and supplements carry Supplement Facts. The supplement panel can list ingredients with no Daily Value and their sources, which a food label cannot.²

See what we make

Every product shows its whole label and what its lab report covers. The store opens soon.

See the Full Measure line

Sources

This page is information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own situation.